HP has simultaneously achieved two near identical VMmark scores with their ProLiant DL585 G6 rack server and ProLiant BL685c G6 blade, claiming the summit from the reigning 24-core champion. Since first establishing the 24-core tier VMmark in September 2009, the Intel "Dunnington" 6-core processor (FSB architecture) has gone unchallenged. Now, with the release of the Opteron 8439SE raising the performance bar and the Opteron 8435 making a clear price-performance case, Dunnington's vacation is over.
Today's Istanbul-based achievements - established in the same memory footprint as the top Dunnington - renders the venerable processor all but obsolete, besting the champ by 4 tiles (24 more virtual machines) with a score-tile ratio of 1.5 for the rack system and 1.46 (same as the Dunnington at 14 tiles) for the blade. Using the HP and IBM on-line configuration tools, we established the retail (on-line) price for each system - down to the Fiber Channel HBA's - and compared them for $/VM value. Here are the results:
| HP DL685 G6 | HP BL685c G6 | IBM x3850 M2 | |
| Processor | 4x Opteron 8439SE 2.8GHz | 4x Opteron 8435 2.6GHz | 4x Xeon X7460 2.67GHz |
| Memory | 128GB (16x8GB PC2-5300 Reg ECC) | 128GB (16x8GB PC2-5300 Reg ECC) | 128GB (32x4GB PC2-5300 Reg ECC) |
| LAN Controllers | 1x Dual-Port NC371i 1Gbps, 3x Dual-Port NC380T 1Gbps | 2x Dual-Port NC532i Flex-10 10Gbs, 1x Dual-Port NC360m 1Gbps | 2x Intel PRO 1000PT Dual-Port 1Gbps |
| HBA | Qlogic QMH2462 Dual-Port FC | Qlogic QMH2462 Dual-Port FC | 2x Qlogic QMH2462 Dual-Port FC |
| OS RAID Controller | HP Smart Array P800 | HP Smart Array P400i | HBA |
| OS Disks | 2x 73Gb SAS 10K | 2x 73Gb SAS 10K | SAN |
| On-line Price | $36,862.00 | $35,296.00 | $34,269.00 |
| On-line w/3rd Party Memory | $28,712.00 | $27,356.00 | $33,207.00 |
| VMmark Results | 29.95@20 tiles | 29.19@20 tiles | 20.5@14 tiles |
| VMmark Tile Ratio | 1.5 | 1.46 | 1.46 |
| Cost/VM Retail | $307.18 | $294.13 | $407.96 |
| Cost/VM 3rd Party | $239.27 | $227.97 | $276.73 |
The results indicate a 21-38% savings per-VM for Istanbul over Dunnington in the 4P/24-core virtualization space. This is bread-and-butter territory for VDI implementations and SQL virtualizations, and Intel's last remaining market place for the Dunnington processor. With the top-bin Istanbul weighing-in with 3% better performance, 18% less power consumption and 30% more capacity against Dunnington at the same price point, Intel's 4P gambit is played-out and Nehalem-EX cannot arrive too soon for Intel.
It is worth asking the question: does the HP ProLiant 4P/24-core offer the best value? The answer depends on the value proposition. From a straight $/VM vantage point, the HP DL385 G6 comparison demonstrated a more economical $182/VM - a difference of $40/VM lower than the BL685c G6 - so the 2P rack system still comes out on top for the absolute bottom-line concious. However, for applications like SQL consolidations, the additional savings in licensing on 4P platforms versus 2P platforms dwarfs this differential.
What is clear: AMD's Istanbul solution will remain unchallenged in the 4P space both in raw performance and in price-performance until Nehalem-EX is delivered. That means if Nehalem-EX does not arrive in Q3/2009, the market will likely wait for Q1/2010 to make any long-term purchasing decisions in anticipation of the new platforms slated to break-in the new year.
