Need recommendation on a server

[webuser1200]

I need to buy a sever for a latency sensitive application that is going to be located in a data center. Server needs to be 1u and have a 10gig port, with an option of adding a solarflare card.

I'd like the server to be between 3k - 5k. Any suggestions on what server (and where) I should be looking...

Number of cores is not that critical, however, each core should be as fast as possible. It would be great if I could over clock them as well. Is there a company (that you can recommend) which sells over clocked servers

 

[mervincm]

I have never seen an over-clockable server CPU. The slight cost saving is not worth the increased instability. Not many server loads exist for admins to make that trade. You might have to roll your own with desktop board / CPU to achieve it.

 

[Mike]

Every now and then you see these odd desktop boards with the optimal RAM positioning. Would probably need a hardware kvm.
Rice the OS , forget about ECC, and whatever you do with the solarflare.

 

[HellDiverUK]

You won't be able to buy an overclocked, or overclockable server off the shelf.

If you really want an overclocked server, my recommendation would be one of Asus' workstation boards and a K-series i5 or i7. The P9D WS is probably the best option. Then you'll have to source a case, PSU, etc, etc. 1U will be difficult to achieve, though. You'll probably end up with 3U.

 

[webuser1200]

That makes sense. The company I'm hosting with charges the same for 1u or 2u. Can I get a 2u enclosure and put in two desktop cpu's in there and make two fully redundant nodes there.

 

[Mike]

A P9D WS will not fit in a 1u chassis unless you solder off the sound connectors. It also does not have quite the power circuitry that some of the higher grade overclock boards have.
Also, most 2u dual node chassis do not use anything like an ATX layout so that would be a homebrew solution.

I think there was an article on Supermicro-'overclocked' servers a while ago on Servethehome.

 

[Patrick]

Yea, I still have the hyper- speed chassis. Too bad I did the review with V1 chips not V2. I heard V2 can clock higher.

It is 2U and needs it for the massive heatsinks.

 

[webuser1200]

Ok. I'm now more confused then when I started. I don't want to spend too much effort building a custom rig and I don't need to have the latest and greatest. More fast memory would be great. And most importantly I want a server that does not cause me grief since the colocation company will charge me an arm and leg to change components and replace the server.

So I went on ebay and looked at some configurations. Looks like if I go with xeon x56xx vs E5-26xx. It seems the x56xx are in the 2k and the newer cpus are in the 4k for similarly configured machines. I'm leaning towards the xeon x56xx servers with tons of memory. Any suggestion on the following items:

1. HP G6 X5670 192GB $2264. Two power supplies

HP Proliant DL360 G6 Server 2X 2 93GHz X5670 Six Core 192GB 2X 146GB 10K SAS 884420372790 | eBay

 

[vdrey]

It would be helpful if you gave us more details about how the server will be used.

 

[webuser1200]

It would be to host a trading application and will be collocated at an exchange...

 

[vdrey]

Ahhh.

 

[Patrick]

It would be to host a trading application and will be collocated at an exchange...

The Supermicro Hyperspeed solution was built for trading. I think Dell had a similar platform. You get faster clocks + faster memory speeds = lower latency.

 

[Gannon]

It would be to host a trading application and will be collocated at an exchange...

I've done a little work with HFT before, is this for yourself or a client?
Just a note if its for a client you will need to be looking at N+1 redundancy on power and hardware.

If its for a smaller firm then the support contact will be just as important as the hardware, no point in having a super fast platform if when it goes down (And it will) your support contract is next business day for on-site/parts/repair. So you need to be looking at a new server from a company who has excellent onsite support options.