Server Clash: DELL's Quad Opteron DELL R815 vs HP's DL380 G7 and SGI's Altix UV10

In Summary

Below we have a quick summary of the pros and cons for each of the three servers we talked about today. As always, the full story can't be distilled down to a few lines but if you're looking for a recap hopefully this helps.

SGI Altix UV 10/ QSSC-4R

Pro:

• Extreme expandability : 64 DIMMs, 10 PCIe slots
• Cold Redundancy and 2 + 2 PSU
• RAS features
• Low response times in all kinds of circumstances (X7560)

Con:

• High power consumption in general; low utilization power consumption too high
• Only the X7560 delivers really high end performance

Dell PowerEdge R815

Pro:

• 2U rack space saving form factor and...
• Performance and expandability of a 4U
• Best price/performance ratio of the market
• Competitive performance/watt

Con:

• Higher response times for the individual VMs in some real world situations (20-40% load)

HP Proliant DL380 G7

Pro:

• Low response times in most "non-peak" situations
• Cold redundancy
• Competitive performance/watt
• Very low energy use when underutilized

Con:

• Relatively high price/performance ratio compared to Dell R815
• Too many "options" (risers, unnecessary DIMMs, drive bays)