The four-core, E7-8893 v3 will have the best single-threaded performance and the lowest SQL Server license cost. The only question is whether it will have enough total capacity for your workload or not. The next jump up is to the 10-core E7-8891 v3, which will have lower single-threaded performance and much higher (more than double) the SQL Server license cost.
Another alternative would be to look at a new two-socket server like a Dell R730, with an eight-core E5-2667 v3 or ten-core E5-2687W. If you can wait a few weeks, the E5-2600 v4 family will be available in the same servers. This assumes that 768GB of RAM is enough for you.
]]>Thank you for your fast response!!
Ideally, yes I’d love to split the workloads across multiple servers, but unfortunately that’s a plan for further down the road. So, for the time being I’ve been ‘tasked’ to build out an environment that can handle the mixed workload.
With our current hardware architecture we’re core bound at peak traffic. To get us better singe threaded processing & scalability, as I mentioned previously, I’m looking at a 4x socket configuration. And since I can’t distribute my workload just yet, in the E7-8800 processor family, what wold you recommend for better performance: (E7-8890 v3, 8867 v3–most expensive), 8891 v3, 8893 v3?
Hey Chris,
I would tend to avoid the Xeon E5-4600 v3 series processors, since the Xeon E5 does not seem to scale very well in four-socket servers. The E7-8893 v3 will be quite a bit faster for single-threaded performance and will have more memory capacity. It will be more expensive for the hardware because of the high prices that Intel charges for the E7-8800 v3 family processors. Perhaps you could split your workload across two, two-socket servers that each have two Xeon E5-2643 v3 or two E5-2637 v3 processors?
]]>Thank you for your time.
Chris
]]>Hi Roland,
That is the best model of the E5-4600 v3 family, with a relatively low core count and high clock speeds. Older versions of the E5-2600 have not scaled very well in four-socket servers, but maybe the v3 will do better. Normally I would recommend an E7-8800 v3 for a four-socket server, but they are more expensive for the hardware.
]]>Thanks for the reply Glen.
]]>No articles on that specific subject. With SQL Server 2012/2014, you are supposed to pay for each virtual core that the guest OS can see (unless you have enough physical core licenses for the entire host, and you have Microsoft SA). You would simply have to multiply the number of vCPUs times the per core license cost to get a cost figure.
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