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List:       opensolaris-discuss
Subject:    Re: [osol-discuss] Another [OT] Hardware Post
From:       Erik Trimble <erik.trimble () oracle ! com>
Date:       2011-02-25 0:22:23
Message-ID: 4D66F63F.4060001 () oracle ! com
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On 2/24/2011 3:43 PM, ken mays wrote:
> Actually, take note that heavy calculations are offloaded to GPUs
> or specialized hardware nowadays.
>
> Many ways to skin something....
>
> ~ Ken Mays
>
>
> --- On Thu, 2/24/11, Orvar Korvar<knatte_fnatte_tjatte@yahoo.com>  wrote:
>
>> From: Orvar Korvar<knatte_fnatte_tjatte@yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Re: [osol-discuss] Another [OT] Hardware Post
>> To: opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
>> Date: Thursday, February 24, 2011, 3:14 PM
>> Thanks for the tips, but I also need
>> to do heavy development and run heavy calculations. So I
>> need a beefy CPU above all. But I prefer if it has low power
>> requirements.
>>
>> That is the reason Sandybridge is what I prefer. I have to
>> wait and see how the 3D graphics driver turns out....
>> -- 

Also, I just looked, and you're not going to find a SandyBridge-based i7 
that is under a 65W TDP profile. That's the i7-2600S 
(http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52215), which runs about $400.

If you want under 65W and a SandyBridge, you have to step down to the 
i5.  Specifically, the i5-2500T 
(http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52212) for $270 does 45W.


The i7 will significantly out-perform anything else available. But, a 
SandyBridge i5 won't.  It won't be noticeably faster than the last-gen 
Clarksdale i5, or the various current-gen Athlon II


Also, remember, that practically all modern CPUs will idle down 
significantly when not under load. So, the max TDP of a CPU will be 
significantly more than actually consumed most of the time.  For this 
reason, I'd look at Clarksdale-based i5 and Athlon II X4 systems with a 
higher TDP than 45W, and consider that they don't actually pull what 
they indicate.

Similarly, while the nVidia gtx 460 is going to pull 200W at top rev, a 
modest nVidia gtx 240 might pull 40W under max load, and a quarter of 
that (or less) when doing 2D.


One last thing:  DDR RAM power consumption is non-trivial these days.  
Specifically, DDR2 w/ ECC is going to consume less power than DDR3 (even 
non-ECC), by 15% or more.  So, if you really care about that, a 65W 
Athlon II using DDR2 RAM with ECC may very well pull similar power to a 
45W SandyBridge w/ DDR3, under most load situations.



The sad fact right now is that the integrated video of the SandyBridge 
isn't supported. It may very well be, but that's a complete unknown, and 
it *won't* be made known UNTIL Oracle decides to actually ship it the 
next day.

-- 
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop:  usca22-123
Phone:  x17195
Santa Clara, CA

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