Content area
Full Text
Not long ago, the folks at Compaq were kind enough to outfit us with an early version of its newest server, the ProLiant 8500. Designed for ultra-heavy serving and abominable uptime requirements, the 8500 is the meanest monster in Compaq's Intel-based stable. But what really sets it apart is its eight-way CPU core. Count 'em, eight Pentium III Xeon CPUs, each equipped with 2 MB of onboard level 2 cache. Wow.
Literally, we said "Wow" when we first saw it. After the initial drooling period, we naturally asked the boss if we could drag the 8500 into the Bunker to see what we could see. Upon getting it there, however, we soon realized that even the Reviews staff's CPU muscle was in no shape to give this puppy the workout it required. Frustration set in.
We happened to mention our benchmarking blues to a buddy who develops e-commerce software for a large Wall Street investment bank, which inexplicably wants to remain nameless. He offered to take the 8500 off our hands and bang on it in his IT development labs. To make it interesting, we also gave him a Compaq ProLiant 6400R quad-CPU machine. The object was to get a handle on each server's strengths and weaknesses individually, and then see how much of a difference an eight-way really made against a four-way.
The ProLiant 6400R
While it looks diminutive next to the Schwarzenegger-ish 8500, don't underestimate the 6400R. This is a serious piece of hardware. Our test unit came equipped with four 500-MHz Pentium III Xeon CPUs, each with 2 MB of onboard level 2 cache (presently upgradable to the 550-MHz versions). This was backed up by 512 MB of ECC RAM (expandable up to 4 GB) and a RAID array based around four 4.3-GB Ultra Wide SCSI-2 hard disks wired to Compaq's own Smart Array Raid 3200 PCI controller.
That storage configuration was mostly just for test purposes. Typically, those disks would carry 9.1 GB of Ultra Wide SCSI-2 storage, and you can even opt for higher-capacity drives, allowing the 6400R to achieve up to 72 GB of internal 10,000-rpm storage. However, for truly deep storage requirements, Compaq will sell this machine in conjunction with its StorageWorks Enclosure model, which can carry...