Which hardware configuration gives you the best though put for processing?

1.) Quad CPU at 2 GHZ
2.) Dual CPU at 3 GHZ and More Memory.


We currently have setup #1, I want to upgrade the server and I am investigating hardware configurations. Wanted to know if set #1 gives better though put or set # 2?

There is no way of knowing for sure because it depends on the software you are trying to run.

If your software is able to use the multiple processors for parallel processing the quad option may well be better. But many apps don't do that, in which case the faster dual processors will have better performance.

Another factor is your workload characteristics. Can you run your software multiple times? For example, I once administered a 24 processor webserver where we ran up to 80 instances of a webserver all at once. The fact that we had lots of processors didn't make any of the individual webservers run faster, but it did allow us to have more running at once without slowing down the box. In a case like that more processors is helpful. But if you are running just a single instance of your app the extra processors are useless (unless the app does parallel threading like I mentinoed above).

Your best option is to install your software on both types and benchmark it before buying if possible.

Thanks RHfromMN,


The information you provided is very helpful but let me re-phrase the question hopefully I in the right forum.

The correct question is : Is Veritas Netbackup written to capitalize on the Quad processer hardware or the Dual processer hardware with more memory?

It kinda depends on how much memory each config has. And also how many clients will netbackup be serving.

But one thing is now clear: 2GHz to 3 GHz won't help very much at all. Netbackup mostly waits for tape drives and networks. It is I/O bound and it doesn't need super fast cpu's. It tends to have mutiple processes running and thus can benefit from more cpu's.

Thanks Perderabo,

That is exactly the answer I needed. It should have come to me but I guess I'm to close to situation.Who would ogf thought it would be that simple.

This thread can be closed. Do you know how to do it?