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Write down concerns, ideas, and efforts as understood by Chemistry IT so research group members can review and correct.
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Chen Computational Server
Expect using it for 5 years, and hope for more years.
- Warranty for 5 years.
1) Confirm support (draft)
Chemistry IT's role and responsibilities
- Be responsive and respectful of requests from the Chen group, including requests for software installations.
- Conduct regular maintenance by Chemistry IT
- At least every 3 months, require the system to be taken off-line. Usually able to accomplish updates within a morning. Scheduled for every 3 months and reminders that all jobs will be stopped are sent 1 week and 1 day before the maintenance.
- Chemistry IT installing OS and application updates and upgrades
- Installing or removing applications, configuring CPU threading.
On-request changes by Chen's group
- Be responsive and respectful of requests from Chemistry IT, including planning around maintenance or emergency technical work.
2) Deciding on the final specs
This step enables Chemistry IT to get a "final" quote for Peng's review. If approved, Chemistry IT can place the order.
Below on this page is an outline on the costs and trade-offs of likely computation bottlenecks, for Peng's consideration.
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Server
Dell R440
$4,016.14, plus:
- storage drive (below)
- Any upgrades (below)
1) Processors
Given: Two Xeon Intel processors.
| Intel model | Cores (actual) | Clock speed (GHz) | Cache (MB) | Cost change from tested | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver 4110 | 8 | 2.1 | 11 | (As quoted) | As tested |
| Silver 4114 | 10 | 2.2 | 14 | $350.90 | |
| Silver 4116 | 12 | 2.1 | 16 | $919.60 |
Many, many more options, for more money with gradations similar to the above, up to a 22-core (which is about $6,000 more).
- See price sheet if open to spending more for processors.
2) Memory (RAM)
| Quantity (GB) | Price | Notes | Technical details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | subtract: ($1,462.90) | As tested | Two 32GB sticks |
| 128 | (As quoted) | Four 32GB sticks |
- N.B. For the same amount of RAM, same performance and more cost-effective if one buys fewer, larger memory sticks, as long as in pairs.
3) Storage
| Chen Computational Server | Optional change | Cost and trade-offs of the change | Additional notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two Intel Xeon Processors: | Different number of cores Different number of processors | Xeon Silver 4110, 8-core | |
| RAM: | |||
| Storage: | |||
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Request from group: Buy a server to process multiple Matlab calculation simultaneously
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- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-processor-intel-xeon-14g
- Pricing via KFS: Dell-R440-Procs.JPG
- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-memory-14g
- Pricing via KFS: Dell-R440-RAM-128GB.JPG
- https://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/help-me-choose/hmc-server-hard-drive
- Pricing via KFS: Dell-R440-SSD.JPG
| Minimum proposed theoretical 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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