Performance gain on upgrading from Xeon quad core 1.6GHz to 3.1Ghz

Question

What kind of performance gain can I expect to see when doubling my processor speed? I have a Dell 2950 with (2) quad core 1.6GHz processors and am considering upgrading to (2) quad core 3.1GHZ processors. Are there any benchmarks?

This is entirely dependent on what the box is doing. Need a lot more info to answer: what type of applications are you running, what sort of disk subsystem do the systems have, what is your load profile today, what operating system are you running? — Bittrance, Mar 30 '11 at 08:08
Thanks -- I'm running VMWare ESXi. I was wondering if anyone had baseline benchmarks or a starting place for some kind of comparison. — ensnare, Mar 30 '11 at 17:59

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 30 '11 at 09:27

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This means you've either got existing E/L5310 Xeons or possibly new E5603 chips.

I'm struggling to figure out what you want to move to as the only chip in that speed range that the 5310 can be swapped for is the E5460 but that's 3.17Ghz not 3.1. And if they're 5603's then the closest is the E5667's at 3.07Ghz but then if you're going to them you may as well go to the six-core E5675 also at 3.07Ghz.

Now the 2950 can handle dual CPUs each with a TDP of 120W and none of these upgrades run hotter than that, so that's one concern you don't have to worry about, just pay attention to TDP if you look at different chips ok.

All options are likely to provide significant performance increases but this obviously depends on the load characteristics but I'd imagine you'll see a minimum of 50% additional all-round CPU performance.

answered Mar 30 '11 at 09:27

Chopper3

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I have the first generation Poweredge 2950. I'm guessing you're referring to v III ? – ensnare Mar 30 '11 at 17:58
Well I'm a bit of a hardware geek so could narrow it down to those two systems. – Chopper3 Mar 30 '11 at 18:05
Haha thanks for your help. So what's the fastest processor I can put in the first generation 2950? – ensnare Mar 30 '11 at 21:35
The intel E5460, right? – ensnare Mar 30 '11 at 21:39
If your current CPUs are E5310's or L5310's then yes. – Chopper3 Mar 30 '11 at 23:13
What's the difference between the E5460 and X5460? – ensnare Mar 31 '11 at 02:20

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 05 '16 at 00:14

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My 2950 has 2xE5492s in it, what Dell tells you is not always correct. Here is what I understand you can put in each generation:

I: ALL E/L51xxs
II: ALL E/L51xxs, ALL E/L53xxs
III: ALL E/L51xxs, ALL E/L53xxs, ALL E/L52xx, ALL E/L54xxs

edited Jan 05 '16 at 00:14

tudor -Reinstate Monica-

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answered Jan 04 '16 at 22:07

Gwynedd Tobij

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 23 '13 at 21:14

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I talked to Dell Parts today and they said the faster processors are:

2950 II -- can take as high as a X5355 2950 III -- can take as high as a X5460

Funny thing is, I'm looking at one of my PowerEdge 2950 IIs right now and it has a X5365 in it!

answered Jan 23 '13 at 21:14

AaronTheYoung

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Performance gain on upgrading from Xeon quad core 1.6GHz to 3.1Ghz

3 Answers3