vishy@catinhat.Berkeley.EDU (V. Visweswaran) (06/13/91)
We are looking for a compute-server for our lab of 5-6 users. Right now, we
have narrowed our options to two choices :
(1) An HP 9000/730 with 48-64 Mb RAM, 1Gbyte disk space.
(2) A Silicon Graphics 3D/310 server. The salesman for SGI has assured us
that this would be upgraded to the MIPS R4000 chip when it is released.
Again, the configuration would be 48-64 MB RAM and about 1 Gbyte of
disk. (BTW, the 4d/310 is not really a standard product of SGI, but apparently
they have been offering this route - 4d/310->R4000 - to a number of customers
recently.
(Both configurations cost roughly the same)
The server (HP or SGI) would be to drive 4-5 X terminals and also act as a file
server for a couple of workstations from other vendors (MIPS/DEC). Since our lab
is essentially a chemical engineering design lab, we would be running a lot of
optimization algorithms, which tend to be very floating-point intensive. At any time,
we expect some 4-5 big jobs of this type to be running in the background, so
a primary factor in our choice is that the performance of the server for driving the
terminals should not degrade too much even when these jobs are running in the
background. Moreover, these programs tend to also be I/O intensive, since they
write out large solution files constantly .
Another factor that we need to consider is the expandability in terms of upgrades
to faster CPUs. In the case of the SGI machines, these are inherently built for a
multiprocessor machine, so it seems like these would be more expandable. In the
case of HP, we are not sure how expensive/easy it would be to upgrade to any newer
(faster?) chips that they might come up with.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to persuade the HP salesman to give us
a demo machine, so there is no way for us to evaluate the machine ourselves. I am
curious as to whether someone has actually tested these machines in a multi-user
environment, and if so, which one has the better performance.
Thanks in advance for any help in this regard.
--
V. Visweswaran
--
Bitnet: viswswrn@pucc | Department of Chemical Engineering
Internet: vishy@catinhat.princeton.edu | Princeton University
Tel: (609) 258-6754 | Princeton, NJ 08544jeffr@jeff.detroit.sgi.com (Jeff's Account) (06/14/91)
In article <10717@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, vishy@catinhat.Berkeley.EDU (V. Visweswaran) writes: |> We are looking for a compute-server for our lab of 5-6 users. Right now, we |> have narrowed our options to two choices : |> |> (1) An HP 9000/730 with 48-64 Mb RAM, 1Gbyte disk space. |> |> (2) A Silicon Graphics 3D/310 server. The salesman for SGI has assured us |> that this would be upgraded to the MIPS R4000 chip when it is released. |> Again, the configuration would be 48-64 MB RAM and about 1 Gbyte of |> disk. (BTW, the 4d/310 is not really a standard product of SGI, but apparently |> they have been offering this route - 4d/310->R4000 - to a number of customers |> recently. |> |> (Both configurations cost roughly the same) |> |> The server (HP or SGI) would be to drive 4-5 X terminals and also act as a file |> server for a couple of workstations from other vendors (MIPS/DEC). Since our lab |> is essentially a chemical engineering design lab, we would be running a lot of |> optimization algorithms, which tend to be very floating-point intensive. At any time, |> we expect some 4-5 big jobs of this type to be running in the background, so |> a primary factor in our choice is that the performance of the server for driving the |> terminals should not degrade too much even when these jobs are running in the |> background. Moreover, these programs tend to also be I/O intensive, since they |> write out large solution files constantly . |> |> Another factor that we need to consider is the expandability in terms of upgrades |> to faster CPUs. In the case of the SGI machines, these are inherently built for a |> multiprocessor machine, so it seems like these would be more expandable. In the |> case of HP, we are not sure how expensive/easy it would be to upgrade to any newer |> (faster?) chips that they might come up with. |> |> Unfortunately, we have not been able to persuade the HP salesman to give us |> a demo machine, so there is no way for us to evaluate the machine ourselves. I am |> curious as to whether someone has actually tested these machines in a multi-user |> environment, and if so, which one has the better performance. |> |> Thanks in advance for any help in this regard. |> |> |> -- |> V. Visweswaran |> -- |> |> Bitnet: viswswrn@pucc | Department of Chemical Engineering |> Internet: vishy@catinhat.princeton.edu | Princeton University |> Tel: (609) 258-6754 | Princeton, NJ 08544 Apparently someone has been feeding you some bad information because the 4D/310 product has been on the SGI price list for somewhere around a year. The upgrade to the R4000 chip is available to anyone buying either a single CPU or multi-CPU machine. -- Jeff Roberts jeffr@sgi.com System Engineer (313) 478-5446 Silicon Graphics VM 8504 Farmington MI (Detroit)
fine@sofine.detroit.sgi.com (Steve Fine) (06/14/91)
In article <10717@idunno.Princeton.EDU>, vishy@catinhat.Berkeley.EDU (V. Visweswaran) writes: |> We are looking for a compute-server for our lab of 5-6 users. Right now, we |> have narrowed our options to two choices : |> |> (1) An HP 9000/730 with 48-64 Mb RAM, 1Gbyte disk space. |> |> (2) A Silicon Graphics 3D/310 server. The salesman for SGI has assured us |> that this would be upgraded to the MIPS R4000 chip when it is released. |> Again, the configuration would be 48-64 MB RAM and about 1 Gbyte of |> disk. (BTW, the 4d/310 is not really a standard product of SGI, but apparently |> they have been offering this route - 4d/310->R4000 - to a number of customers |> recently. |> |> (Both configurations cost roughly the same) |> |> The server (HP or SGI) would be to drive 4-5 X terminals and also act as a file |> server for a couple of workstations from other vendors (MIPS/DEC). Since our lab |> is essentially a chemical engineering design lab, we would be running a lot of |> optimization algorithms, which tend to be very floating-point intensive. At any time, |> we expect some 4-5 big jobs of this type to be running in the background, so |> a primary factor in our choice is that the performance of the server for driving the |> terminals should not degrade too much even when these jobs are running in the |> background. Moreover, these programs tend to also be I/O intensive, since they |> write out large solution files constantly . |> |> Another factor that we need to consider is the expandability in terms of upgrades |> to faster CPUs. In the case of the SGI machines, these are inherently built for a |> multiprocessor machine, so it seems like these would be more expandable. In the |> case of HP, we are not sure how expensive/easy it would be to upgrade to any newer |> (faster?) chips that they might come up with. |> |> Unfortunately, we have not been able to persuade the HP salesman to give us |> a demo machine, so there is no way for us to evaluate the machine ourselves. I am |> curious as to whether someone has actually tested these machines in a multi-user |> environment, and if so, which one has the better performance. |> |> Thanks in advance for any help in this regard. |> |> |> -- |> V. Visweswaran |> -- |> |> Bitnet: viswswrn@pucc | Department of Chemical Engineering |> Internet: vishy@catinhat.princeton.edu | Princeton University |> Tel: (609) 258-6754 | Princeton, NJ 08544 This is not true. The 4D-310[S,GTX,VGX] have all been on our standard price list for at least 1 year. The 310 is the entry point into our Multi-processor line. This machine (assuming a single tower, not Rack) can hold up to 4 40Mhz Mips R3000a's. It also supports both SCSI and IPI2 disk drives, Ethernet....... So, the 310 is a standard product and not just some "special" offer. -- ---------------------------------------------------- Steve Fine fine@sgi.com Systems Engineer 313-478-5446 Silicon Graphics Inc. vm 8115 24155 Drake Rd. Farmington, Michigan 48335 (Thats a burb of Detroit) ----------------------------------------------------