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I'm looking into research in multi-core processing and hardware to test it on. I would need at least 4 cores (but that's fairly minimal and I would prefer as many as I can get without upping the price to much) on shared memory. I have to odd "requirement" that total performance is not really of interest as I'm more interested in comparing stuff rather than raw processing power.

As a starting point

  • This beast can be decked out with 24 cores for about $14K retail (Ouch! Way out of my [personal] price range.) comes in at $583/core.
  • This one can get 8 cores for $1500 for ~$400/core
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Don't forget that if you're using linux, Intels with Hyperthreading are viewed as two processors by the OS. – pjz May 8 '09 at 20:44
I'm looking for cores and concurrency, not CPU count according to the OS :) – BCS May 8 '09 at 20:46
Not worth an answer, but do look at Sun's offerings. Their servers are pretty darned cheap for multi-way systems. – Karl Katzke Jun 6 '09 at 16:55
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closed as off topic by Mark Henderson♦ Jan 12 at 5:53

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5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote
  • Intel Q8200 - 170$
  • Asus G31 mobo - 60$
  • 2 X 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - 50$
  • 500GB drive - 70$
  • generic case - 40$

100$ per core

I reckon you can similarly get SuperMicro 2U 2-socket 8-core machine for about 1000$

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Step 1, Get that setup. Step 2, wow the prof. Step 3, beg for better hardware. Sesp 4. RUN . . . . . better experiments <g> – BCS May 8 '09 at 22:09
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up vote 1 down vote

Actually the Dell R900 sounds like it'd be a good fit for what you're looking for. Personally, I like the HP DL580 G5 7400 (24 cores, ~$16k-$18k), but either one will probably get you the most bang for your buck out of the main server vendors... An IBM x3850 M2 will run you about $20k for 24 cores. After that, you're looking at smaller vendors & any deals your local VARs might be offering.

Admittedly, it's more for the geek factor, but there's always the Cray CX1 (https://cx1.cray.com/Default.aspx) ~$28k for 24 cores using only 3 of the 8 available slots...

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Looks like that Cray is not a shared memory system (or not in the same way as the Dell box is) – BCS May 8 '09 at 20:52
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up vote 1 down vote

Here's one I'm looking at:

Case - $100 AMD Phenom 9950 CPU - $150 GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H mobo - $135 2x2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $50 500 GB HD - $70 DVD+/-RW drive - $26

Total cost: $533 = $133 per core

However, this has a top end CPU and a nice case and motherboard. You could easily drop this down to $120 for an AMD Phenom 9650, a basic case for $40 and basic Mobo for $60 which drops the price to $360 or about $80 per core.

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up vote 0 down vote

A Sun^WOracle T1000 Niagra system has eight cores each running four threads giving a total of 32 threads.

I'm unsure about US pricing, but the Sun web site says the base configuration (with six cores) starts at US$3400.

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$566/core ... Hmmm. – BCS May 8 '09 at 21:50
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up vote 0 down vote
  • ASUS DSBV-DX usd 229
  • 2x Intel Xeon E5405 2x usd 229
  • 4x 1GB ECC memory 4x usd 15
  • HD 160 GB usd 40
  • Decent case and PSU usd 90

Total: usd 887 or usd 111 per core (8 cores)

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