4 ms·

That doesn't track in my experience, but that depends heavily on how you define typical. Just going off total servers installed, what I see getting racked are t

by bragr 3y ago

That doesn't track in my experience, but that depends heavily on how you define typical. Just going off total servers installed, what I see getting racked are typically 1+TB RAM, and anything less would be seen as low density (i.e. cost inefficient). We've got a whole batch in the 512GB range that are coming up on EOL. Dual socket is definitely less common, but not rare either.

_delirium 3y ago
In my corner of academia, 128gb is by far the most common RAM per node on something billed as a compute cluster (on random desktops and laptops it’s of course much lower than 128gb). I have seen a few 1tb+ nodes but they are rare.
CSMastermind 3y ago
I know nothing about server hardware but I'm curious how that works. I have a decent PC (AMD 3990X 64-Core Processor with 256 GB of RAM), I'd have installed better/more components but that seemed to be the best you could do on the consumer market a few years ago when I was building it. Are they using the same RAM I'm using with a different motherboard that just supports more of it? Or are they using different components entirely? Apologies for what I'm sure is a very basic question but it would be interesting to learn about.
- dur-randir 3y ago
  Typical Intel offering is 1.5-2TB per socket. Socket scales up to 8 (though the price increase 2->4 is very steep). Memory itself is registered ECC DIMMs (which is even lower cost than consumer DIMMs/unbuffered ECCs), but to get to 1.5TB density you need low-rank (LRDIMM) modules, which gives x2 capacity but at a higher price.
- elif 3y ago
  It's the same RAM chips (though error tolerance features are prioritized over pure speed). You would just need a server motherboard to support that many sockets, and a server chassis to support that motherboard, and a rack to support the cooling needs of that chassis. Here's what a lowly 256GB server looks like. For a TB just imagine even more sticks: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dnIAAOSwcy1kFNqq/s-l1200.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dnIAAOSwcy1kFNqq/s-l1200.jpg
justinclift 3y ago
Interesting. The servers at places I work with are in the 128-256GB ram range. The only real exception to that would be for database or reporting servers, which sometimes might have higher ram requirement (eg 384GB). That's pretty much it though.

by bragr 3y ago

_delirium 3y ago

In my corner of academia, 128gb is by far the most common RAM per node on something billed as a compute cluster (on random desktops and laptops it’s of course much lower than 128gb). I have seen a few 1tb+ nodes but they are rare.

CSMastermind 3y ago

I know nothing about server hardware but I'm curious how that works. I have a decent PC (AMD 3990X 64-Core Processor with 256 GB of RAM), I'd have installed better/more components but that seemed to be the best you could do on the consumer market a few years ago when I was building it. Are they using the same RAM I'm using with a different motherboard that just supports more of it? Or are they using different components entirely? Apologies for what I'm sure is a very basic question but it would be interesting to learn about.

dur-randir 3y ago
Typical Intel offering is 1.5-2TB per socket. Socket scales up to 8 (though the price increase 2->4 is very steep). Memory itself is registered ECC DIMMs (which is even lower cost than consumer DIMMs/unbuffered ECCs), but to get to 1.5TB density you need low-rank (LRDIMM) modules, which gives x2 capacity but at a higher price.
elif 3y ago
It's the same RAM chips (though error tolerance features are prioritized over pure speed). You would just need a server motherboard to support that many sockets, and a server chassis to support that motherboard, and a rack to support the cooling needs of that chassis. Here's what a lowly 256GB server looks like. For a TB just imagine even more sticks: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dnIAAOSwcy1kFNqq/s-l1200.jpg https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dnIAAOSwcy1kFNqq/s-l1200.jpg

justinclift 3y ago

Interesting. The servers at places I work with are in the 128-256GB ram range. The only real exception to that would be for database or reporting servers, which sometimes might have higher ram requirement (eg 384GB). That's pretty much it though.