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News Start-up launches 512-Atom server

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 15 Jun 2010.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

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  2. mi1ez

    mi1ez Modder

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    I'm not convinced this is the way to go, although I can there's a sound theory behind it. Good luck to them and I look forward to hearing about performance.
     
  3. alpaca

    alpaca llama eats dremel

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    in light of current events/articles:

    can it run crysis?
     
  4. kenco_uk

    kenco_uk I unsuccessfully then tried again

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    I can only only assume it's been tested to the hilt before being unleashed. What OS are they to use?
     
  5. Tom @ CCL

    Tom @ CCL AKA: Yewen

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    Surely if this is the method of thinking they would have been better going down the GPU route for massive multi-core options?
     
  6. kingosticks

    kingosticks What's a Dremel?

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    This is aimed at small independent tasks. And I assume there is some benefit in running x86 code rather than recompiling for a GPU.
     
  7. l3v1ck

    l3v1ck Fueling the world, one oil well at a time.

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    It seems like a very bizarre idea to me. Why use in order CPU's when they're inefficient by their nature. Surely lower clocked Core i# CPU's would be better for the task of cheapness and power efficiency?
    It'll be interesting to see how it does.
     
  8. LAGMonkey

    LAGMonkey Group 7 error

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    SM10000? its over 9000!!!!

    But i do like this, a lot.
    And i believe the company looked at running ARM processors but chose atoms as they are x86. no need to recompile any code and youve already got a lot of software that can be run on it.
    As for the OS... as far as its conserned its just one BIG CPU (or as many as you want, its virtulised) so you can run windows, *nix, OS2/Warp (maybe?)
     
  9. borandi

    borandi What's a Dremel?

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    ^^ Got it in one. Though the downside of all these small chips is that if one particular job is massive, it'll have to go through a relatively poor CPU. Stick in a couple of Xeon E6xxx chips for those :)
     
  10. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    I LOLed. :)
    I vomited. :(
     
  11. barndoor101

    barndoor101 Bring back the demote thread!

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    its a rather specialised piece of equipment - the atom doesnt support intel VT, or ECC RAM, itll have to be a highly independant set of tasks with very little multithreading.
     
  12. TSR2

    TSR2 What's a Dremel?

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    Atom? Netbook chip you say?
     
  13. HourBeforeDawn

    HourBeforeDawn a.k.a KazeModz

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    amazing how many people cant grasp the type of information that these server will receive lol but no they wont ever see anything "intense" or "large" as some have put it and to off load to a GPU isnt as practical for such a thing as its not doing any hi math calculations or rendering or the likes. So this is actually I deal for the power use behind it.
     
  14. Shielder

    Shielder Live long & prosper!

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    It runs 512 iterations of Linux. Has 2GB per CPU and as far as I understand it, no storage (or it may be extra for the storage). There are 64 network ports on the back which can be teamed to make 16 Gigabit ethernet ports (?).

    Look on the anandtech website for more info.

    Andy
     
  15. Tangster

    Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness!

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    I'm sure it works for what it does. Mind you, boasting that you have 512 atom chips in a server isn't the same as 512 xeons or opterons...
     
  16. crazyceo

    crazyceo What's a Dremel?

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    Yes, it's not entirely a "big" willy wave at all is it! It's kind of one where everyone turns and points their fingers at it and laugh.....................ok, that happened to me alot.
     
  17. RichCreedy

    RichCreedy Hey What Who

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    i can see the thinking behind this, your not going to use it for a games server, but if your running web servers, you don't need powerful processors to deliver the websites.

    my kids have custom built mini itx machines than run atom 330's, and they do everything they need them to.
     
  18. Splynncryth

    Splynncryth 0x665E3FF6,0x46CC,...

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    The mentioned tasks have all been done on other architectures that are in order with shallow pipelines if they are even superscalar at all. So I don't see a problem with picking an Atom.
    What they get is a selection of mature, well maintained tool chains, large software base, a well understood architecture (32 bit x86), and a huge talent pool tha is already comfortable with x86.

    The picture looks like it's all based on Menlow and there is an SCH for each CPU. I'm not sure how they are linking each 'computer' together (nontransparent bridge, Ethernet, some other IO tech), or if they are linked at all. But having each be independent means they could just put an inactive SCH/CPU pair into S3 or even switch it off.
    Assuming that the hardware platform is fixed (no PCIe slots, fixed RAM config, etc), the BIOS can be made to boot very fast, and the OS can probably be tweaked top do the same. That could make a full system boot fast enough with an SSD to make a full shutdown feasible (as opposed to S3).
     
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