[Discuss] 8 core CPUs, liquid colling

[jay at lentecs.com (Jason Normand)]

Of course it depends on what the servers are doing. But I know And has
always been great for budget servers. Unlike Intel they don't gimp their
desktop processors when it come to things like ecc support.  Atleast the
did not use to.  But for most mundane server tasks an 8 core amd should be
more than sufficient.
On Feb 4, 2012 3:13 AM, "Tom Metro" <tmetro-blu at vl.com> wrote:

> I see Micro Center is promoting AMD 8-core CPUs starting at $200
> (FX-8120 $200, FX-8150 $260):
> http://www.microcenter.com/storefronts/amd/Expired/FX_assets/fx_index.html
>
> They seem to be marketing them to D-I-Y builders of performance
> desktops, but I'm wondering if these are any good for servers.
>
> Here's AnandTech's review:
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4955/the-bulldozer-review-amd-fx8150-tested
>
> They weren't very enthusiastic about it, but their benchmarks are quite
> desktop-oriented. (For example, one of their multi-core benchmarks
> depended on the floating point performance, and this chip share one FPU
> per two integer cores, and thus faired poorly.) I'd be curious how it
> benchmarks when running many mundane server loads. And how it compares
> to other CPUs on a performance per watt basis. (This part apparently can
> vary the clock frequency of each core independently.)
>
> Anyone heard how suitable these are for server tasks or seen articles
> that address this?
>
>
> In other matters, the above review also mentions that AMD is now selling
> a rebranded liquid cooling solution, which reminded me of this Antec
> cooler I see advertised at Micro Center:
> http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361180
>
> It's a bit different from traditional liquid cooling solutions in that
> the it comes as a closed system with the radiator permanently attached
> to the CPU block with a fixed length of tubing. Should be about as easy
> to install as a common CPU cooler. At $50 it is also cheaper than what I
> remember a water cooling setup costing.
>
> The description on a similar Corsair cooler says, "a total noise level
> that's lower than most stock CPU fans." Stock? That's not exactly a high
> benchmark.
>
> I think the interesting opportunity with water cooling is that you can
> transfer the heat to a large passive radiator and avoid the noise of a
> fan, but that isn't what this accomplishes. They don't make any
> particular claims about the actual cooling performance, so beyond the
> flexibility of locating the radiator separate from the CPU block (which
> might be useful in a small case), it isn't clear what advantage this
> offers over traditional coolers.
>
> Anyone tried these out? Can you hear the water gurgling? :-)
>
>  -Tom
>
> --
> Tom Metro
> Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
> "Enterprise solutions through open source."
> Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/
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