Overclocked 5Ghz Sandy Bridge datacentre build out...

DamoTourettes

DamoTourettes

DamoTourettes

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Hey there all :)

N00b here, so appreciate all pointers. Hoping you ninjas of overclocking might help. ;)

Basically I work for a financial services company, and we have some pretty important business applications that make us cash that are quite simply, limited by CPU speed. We presently have these deployed on a lot of Xeon servers running at 3.46Ghz, however we're very keen on looking at implementing them on overclocked Sandy Bridge platforms in a data centre environment. Probably looking to deploy about 50 or so of them.

A brief outline is that they run Linux so no video or GPU processing is important, along with us looking to try and achieve a stable overclock as high as possible. This last point is the whole point - basically, raw clock speed (and stability) is what's most important to us, and price isn't an issue, so what I'm hoping you might help with is combinations of hardware you've used that has given you a consistent and stable OC in the 5Ghz range. Thus far I'm thinking something along the lines of: -

Intel Core i7-2600k Sandy Bridge processor
Asus Maximum IV Extreme Intel P67 motherboard
Corsair Dominator 4GB (2x2GB) PC3-16000 (2000MHz) ***OR*** G.Skill RipJawsX 4GB DDR3 PC3-17000C9 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit

In this case I'm thinking cooling is going to be totally imperative, and haven't got much of an idea on this front, however have been thinking that the Corsair H70 is potentially something that might be of use? Unfortunately the data centres we're looking at won't let us put a full hydro setup in there, so something which is a self-contained hydro solution might be a good approach, then again space considerations to be able to put it on the mobo (if I go with the Dominator GT RAM with the fans on top) might come into play. Also, data centres are controlled environments - is an air solution possibly better than a hydro CPU cooler?

Anyway, I'm getting further and further into it. Again, appreciate all comments - thanks in advance for your help!

Cheers,

Damo :)
 
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Funny you should mention that. We've custom designed our software to work off a single core, whilst everything else runs off other cores... which basically means that clock speed is very much the most important part of the equation - if it was multi-threaded we'd be using the existing multi processor Xeons we have and just using a board like the EVGA SR-2 to just overclock them...
 
Talk to your software engineers about making the aplication scale better!

Making an application work of a single core and then needing high perf. is silly. unless you actually have a valid usecase (i'm all ears...)
 
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Well, unfortunately, I really can't say anything on that front due to it just not being so good for business, however our C++ devs could argue with you all day.

Suffice to say that we've looked into the latency and we're now just looking at clock speed as being the last area we can improve upon. Anyone have any help to my questions posited above?

Cheers :)
 
DamoTourettes said:
Well basically I want as high a clock speed out of SB as possible, whilst still being able to run them in a datacentre environment... is 5GHz a feasible circumstance in this regard?
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Considered talking to your Dell rep ?

Have you talked to your datacenter manager about bringing in an overclocked watercooled PC into the datacenter? I can't imagine anyone even considering doing this.

Anyways why dont you just get the best SB kit you can get and just try it? Why the need to hit 5ghz?

C++ devs... :rolleyes:
 
DamoTourettes said:
Well basically I want as high a clock speed out of SB as possible, whilst still being able to run them in a datacentre environment... is 5GHz a feasible circumstance in this regard?
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5ghz is really pushing the limit even on a enthusiast system. Most people here are running at about 4.5ghz.

Intel release their processors at the speeds they release them at because they've been thoroughly stress tested and warranty backed at those speeds. A system using a stock speed Intel CPU and other decent component parts should be 100% stable. When you start to overclock, you take parts out of their recommended tolerances and introduce risk. Sure, you can clock and test to mitigate instability, but do you really want to gain speed at the sacrifice of possible data corruption?

I would not recommend using overclocked systems for a business at all tbh.
 
Or go for some Pentium 4 extreme chips since you can only use 1 thread. :D They can clock to silly high numbers if you keep them cool enough.

But to be honest:

reflux said:
I would not recommend using overclocked systems for a business at all tbh.
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+1
 
I find it very strange that your even considering running business critical software on o/c'd hardware. Theres no guarantee that just because an over clock is stable to begin with that it will stay that way and I imagine cooling it in a data center environment would be a nightmare
 
reflux said:
5ghz is really pushing the limit even on a enthusiast system. Most people here are running at about 4.5ghz.

Intel release their processors at the speeds they release them at because they've been thoroughly stress tested and warranty backed at those speeds. A system using a stock speed Intel CPU and other decent component parts should be 100% stable. When you start to overclock, you take parts out of their recommended tolerances and introduce risk. Sure, you can clock and test to mitigate instability, but do you really want to gain speed at the sacrifice of possible data corruption?

I would not recommend using overclocked systems for a business at all tbh.
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I understand your perspective, however this is something that has been thoroughly vetted by senior management. Basically, we are very much at the bleeding edge of technology, and are simply looking for an increase in the speed of our CPU's - the warranty of these machines is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things - if they brick in 6 months after being OC'd and they work as we've expected them to, we'll have made *hundreds if not thousands* of times their value back in what they've generated for us. Now, I'd be most intrigued to hear anyone that has any tangible value to add from a technical perspective on the questions I've raised above... cheers. :)
 
Honestly just pay some new devs to multithread it. why faff around to onlly use 1/4 of the toys you are using.
 
Have you talked to OCUK? They accept custom build requests all the time, so if you send them an e-note I'm sure they are happy to suggest parts and have them built, oced and ready to go for you.
 
How much CPU load will this maintain and will the application use all cores?

5GHz is quite achievable on about 75% of the 2600K's I have seen.
If you are going for CPU speed and not looking for graphics then you do not need to go Maximus, stock to P8P67 Pro or equivalent.

At 5GHz, if you are going to use all cores and maintain 100% cpu use then heat is going to be a big problem, but not unworkable.

You will need about 1.45v vcore, with most other settings on auto. temps will be 70-100c depending on cooling and Core use.
 
Get read C++ devs to sort you out multi threading.. or at least let the program scale. Could use a VM to utilise other cores..

No watercooling in data rooms imo. If clock core really is so crutial - I think it's laughable OC'ing 2600k's for business purposes (for a 10000-100000% gross). Better off keeping with more 26ks/second hand i7s in flat atx cases stacked up.

Or in a large skeleton rack, with pull out shelves. Order 5 ram/cpu/mobo bundles to start with and add as you gain capital.

PRETTY SIMPLE IF YOU THOUGHT FOR YOURSELF-
 
Snooble said:
Get read C++ devs to sort you out multi threading.. or at least let the program scale. Could use a VM to utilise other cores..

No watercooling in data rooms imo. If clock core really is so crutial - I think it's laughable OC'ing 2600k's for business purposes (for a 10000-100000% gross). Better off keeping with more 26ks/second hand i7s in flat atx cases stacked up.

Or in a large skeleton rack, with pull out shelves. Order 5 ram/cpu/mobo bundles to start with and add as you gain capital.

PRETTY SIMPLE IF YOU THOUGHT FOR YOURSELF-
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OK, for the last time, multithreading just isn't feasible. To give you an idea, we presently measure I/O in nanoseconds, *at the application layer*. I really can't have this argument any further...

As for watercooling, I'm presently in discussion with our datacentres about whether this is feasible in a unit like the Corsair H70...
 
SimonMaltby said:
How much CPU load will this maintain and will the application use all cores?

5GHz is quite achievable on about 75% of the 2600K's I have seen.
If you are going for CPU speed and not looking for graphics then you do not need to go Maximus, stock to P8P67 Pro or equivalent.

At 5GHz, if you are going to use all cores and maintain 100% cpu use then heat is going to be a big problem, but not unworkable.

You will need about 1.45v vcore, with most other settings on auto. temps will be 70-100c depending on cooling and Core use.
Click to expand...

Finally, someone that addresses the questions I asked specifically. Many thanks for your comments.

My understanding is that Maximus has better heatsink capabilities on the board rather than the P8P67 Pro - is this the case or is the only tangible difference between them the Tri SLI capabilities? I've read your experiences with OC'ing to 5Ghz, and it appears that BIOS revisions were important as well - if I might ask, what was your total setup? RAM? Cooler? etc?

Thanks again for your comments - anything else you might think relevant would be gladly received. :)
 
DamoTourettes said:
Finally, someone that addresses the questions I asked specifically. Many thanks for your comments.

My understanding is that Maximus has better heatsink capabilities on the board rather than the P8P67 Pro - is this the case or is the only tangible difference between them the Tri SLI capabilities? I've read your experiences with OC'ing to 5Ghz, and it appears that BIOS revisions were important as well - if I might ask, what was your total setup? RAM? Cooler? etc?

Thanks again for your comments - anything else you might think relevant would be gladly received. :)
Click to expand...

Oh, and to answer your question, 1 core will run at 100% CPU, whilst we have OS and other things split across other cores.
 
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