T2 compared to x64 and Xeon
Some great discussion points about T2, SPARC, threads etc.
But what about comparing the performance and price of T2 systems vs standard x86 xeon based systems also available from SUN?. I am an Intel employee and wanted to share some fact.. Don't beat me up yet, until you have had a chance to read what I wanted to share below.
If your Operating system of choice is solaris, then you can run solaris on xeon (and SUNs deep knowledge of this OS) or if you want a change of scenery then you can choose linux or windows on xeon (also available from SUN)
I wanted to share with you some publicly available information comparing T2 systems with their xeon equivalents. Based on system capability and price I compare a 1s T2 system ( with 32GB memory this will set you back about $24,000) vs SUNs 2S Xeon ( same memory for about $11,000) and a 2s T2 (64GB memory $56,000) vs SUNs 4S Xeon (about $33,000).
- 2S Xeon outperforms 1S T2 across a range of workloads (never mind the significant price difference). Taking '1' as a baseline, what I have seen on spec.org and sap websites is higher results for xeon. 10% better on SAP, 40% better on specfprate, 60% better on specintrate, 65% better on specjbb
- 4s xeon outperforms 2s t2. 30% better on specfprate, 80% better on specintrate and 40% on specjbb, 23% better on sap
Now this is comparing a mixed bag of operating systems, but even if you take solaris on T2 vs Solaris on Xeon, Xeon outperforms in a solaris environment
- Sun Blade x6250 15% better on specintrate, Sun Xeon 7460 405 better on specjbb, Sun Xeon 7460 10% better on SAP.
So for me as an IT buyer it would be about buying the best performance product from SUN, retaining my Solaris OS and getting all this at a fraction of the cost of a T2 system
Eoin McConnell