Branded servers, but what is the difference?

[tech291083]

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hi,

as far as i understand, a server is a computer with very good specs to speed up the performance. comapnies like dell sell their own servers. one of them i just came across is here.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/p...sdt1&l=en&s=bsd

PowerEdge 6850 From £2,799

when i check the tech specs it gives the following details:

Processors:

Up to four 64-bit Intel® Xeon® 7100 series processors MP with up to 16MB L3 Cache

Dual-Core 64-bit Intel® Xeon® Processor 7100 sequence
7140M, 3.40GHz, 800MHz front side bus, 16MB L3 cache
7130M, 3.20GHz, 800MHz front side bus, 8MB L3 cache
7120M, 3.0GHz, 800MHz front side bus, 4MB L3 cache
7110M, 2.60GHz, 800MHz front side bus, 4MB L3 cache

Memory:

Up to 64GB ECC DDR-2 SDRAM

my questions are,

1. this server can allow upto 4 cpus at a time instead of the 1 that we all use at home. this means the motherboard must have been constructed in such a way that it has 4 different slots for 4 cpus to run. am i right?

2. it can support upto 64 gb ram that means the m'board has a lot of slots, many more than a regular m'board. am i right again?

3. the m'boards that are used for this kind of servers must be of very different design to allows expandability ie more cpus, more ram, more hard drives etc. and this is a main reason why they are so costly. is this true?

please tell me in simple terms. i am an idiot in tech world, but a bit curious. thanks mates.

[bigtomrodney]

The main reason they are so costly is usually a combination of

• More expensive components to ensure stability and longer life
• The backend support that comes with this kind of purchase
• These systems usually use things like SCSI or some type of RAID, not to mention RAID so that would involve more expensive hardware

There are four slots on this board, though if you chose the dual core option you wuold effectively have 8 processors. You usually have 16 RAM slots on a machine like this, four aligned with each CPU. All these boards are is four motherboards synchronised on one big board.

Remember with a server board these are great pieces of equipment but they are tailored for the server role. You can't usually drop in an nVidia card and make it a game station, and you can expect a lot of power consumption if you have four cores. You would generally have two-three power supplies. (Usually with one redundant).

[tech291083]

thanks mate,

you have given me good info. now i understand a bit more about server structure. cheers