AMD Opteron vs. Intel Xeon: Database Performance Shootout
by Anand Lal Shimpi, Jason Clark & Ross Whitehead on March 2, 2004 2:11 AM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
Order Entry Stress Test Results
The results are split up into two categories: 2-way and 4-way setups. Remember that the 3.2GHz Potomac based Xeon is only available in 2-way configurations and is thus absent from the 4-way graphs. The labels are as follows: CPU Name Clock Speed/FSB Speed/Cache Size (e.g. Xeon 3.0GHz/400/4MB = Xeon 3.0GHz, 400MHz FSB, 4MB L3 cache). Keep in mind that all Xeons have a 512KB on-die L2 cache, and all Opterons have a 1MB on-die L2 cache (but no L3 cache).
With a heavier workload the performance between the top three performers (Xeon MP, Xeon and Opteron) are virtually identical. Note that the number of reads being reported here is in thousands, we are actually talking about 239 million reads from this database in the test here for the Xeon MP.
What once was a close race is now an Opteron victory, with the Opteron 848 taking up an 8.5% performance lead over the latest and greatest Gallatin 4MB. Once again we see that the Gallatin's Achilles' heel is its 400MHz FSB, double it and then AMD may be in trouble.
We get a similar set of standings when looking at write performance; in 2-way configurations the Opteron and Xeon MP are basically tied.
And once again, moving to 4-way configurations shows that the Opteron is a much better scaler, and much better suited for 4-way servers than the Xeon MP.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
58 Comments
View All Comments
Fraggster - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
intel=pwnd again :)Jason Clark - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
64Bit tests are next on our agenda, once there is an Extended 64bit version of SQL Server.... :) We're looking into other avenues as well.Andreas, windows 2003 enterprise is what we used.
fukka - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
Would the Opterons gain any advantage using a 64bit OS (aka Linux) and a database that is much bigger than 4GB in size?That would be interesting to see, but I suppose the IA32e will address that advantage...
andreasl - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
Hey Anand have you thought about moving to Server 2003 instead of running 2000? And any chance of seeing 64-bit results anytime soon? (does a 64-bit version of your app even exist?)christophergorge - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
Opteron only works with ECC registered memory. They only come up to DDR333.raptor666 - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
Maybe because 4 way boards might not support it.Just a guess but honestly i'm not sure.
Peter
tolgae - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
Stupid question probably but why didn't you use DDR400 on the Opteron?CRAMITPAL - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link
No surprises here... Anyone with a clue has known for a year that Opteron/A64 is a far superior architecture to anything Intel bulds, sells, or plans to produce in the next two years.