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Server spec suggestions and costs
Dell's help for choosing processors, memory, and hard drives/ SSD's (respectively) for their R440 server, valid as of 8/9/2018:
- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-processor-intel-xeon-14g
- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-memory-14g
- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-server-hard-drive
| Minimum proposed server | ||||||
| Criteria | Current desktop's specs | Represents ~4 TIMES the desktop specs | Cost increase if go up a level or so | FIRST borrowed Dell Server specs, PowerEdge R430 (1 U) "CHEN-21" | July/ August 2018 SECOND borrowed Dell Server specs, PowerEdge R440 (1 U) "CHEN-23" Cost: $3,135.69 | Notes |
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Cores, hyper-threading (HT) | 4 cores (one processor) i5-6500, 3.20 GHz (Not HT capable) | Total 16 cores (Two, 8-cores each) Each: Xeon Silver 4110, 2.10GHz 11MB Cache (85W) HT-capable | 16 total cores => 20 total cores
16 total cores => 24 total cores
*Availability delay, as of 12/22/17. | Dual Intel Xeon E5-2620v4 2.1ghz processors with 8 real cores / 16 virtual cores per processor More details: 20MB Cache (85W) | Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4110 2.1ghz processors with 8 real cores / 16 virtual cores per processor | Hyper-threading (HT) is useful to the group. Group tested performance between HT being turned on and off on "CHEN-21". With HT, test system showed 32 cores. 25 of these could be used without saturation, and thus without delaying processing time. Without HT, only 16 cores available so maximum much less than 25 effectively used under HT. Notes:
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Storage All SSD. | 500 GB SSD | 2TB is 4 times the space: 2.0TB Samsung 960 PRO M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive (cost is $1,499) Above configuration is the fastest option since combines OS and data on fast bus.
| If need less space, easy. Save about $375 per 500GB. Replace 2.0TB at left with:
If more space is needed, more complicated and slower, but of course doable. Please ask. | 400 GB SSD (380GB usable) | RAID-0 (striped) dual 240GB SSD drives acting as a single 480GB SSD for performance | Large amounts of data not needed to be stored on server, nor moved from server. Instead, simply deleted from server after processing. |
| RAM | 32 GB | 128 GB | +$1,440: 128 GB => 256 GB | 32 GB | 64GB (128GB is $880.55 more) | |
| Warranty | 3 year, NBD Dell on-campus "parts locker" | 3 year, Advanced Parts Replacement Warranty | Warranty upgrades (all non-NBD):
| 5 year, NBD, 5x10 on-site. | ||
| Other | n/a | n/a | Option: Redundant power supply unit (+$224). Option: Any value in Dual and/or 10-Gigabit Ethernet? (+$150-500) | Network card: Quad-port, 1Gb. | ||
| Total cost, approx. | ~$1,000 each (*4 => $4,000) | ~$5,500 for just the server | Easy to add $500 - $18,000 to SAME server! | ~$3,700. Compared to minimum recommendation:
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