multi core vs. clock speed?

[iansane]

Hi,

I'm looking at server mother boards for building my own server. The boards I'm looking at support AMD Opteron dual and quad core processors.
The Opteron processors I see in my price range which is very low, are all dual core or quad core but have clock speeds of 2.2Ghz or lower. Anything above that is in the $1000's price range. I was unaware of this until I started shopping around because dual core athalons are in the 50 to 150 range for 2.2 up to 2.8.

My question is, will a Opteron quad core 2.2 out perform a Athalon dual core 2.8?
And how does that work? I mean will the extra cores get used?
I ask this because of the issue with 32bit vs. 64bit where 64 bit is no good if the OS and apps are 32bit. Is there a similar problem with quad cores where they will just be a waste of money because of not being utilised?

I don't want to put a lot of money into processors if I will get similar performance by just sticking with a regualr Desktop PC and higher clock speed CPU.

I'm not certain yet exactly what jobs the server will be performing so basically I'm trying to get the best overall performance for a low price rather than base it on what tasks it will be performing.

Thanks

[Zertz]

What will the server be used for? IF the applications are heavily multithreaded, the quad will help.

Processors built for 2P and 4P boards are a lot more expensive than the run of the mill single socket processor

[iansane]

Thanks for the response Zert. I know they are more expensive. And the processors are too if I want high clock speeds.

I mainly need to know if 4 cores running at 2.2 Ghz is going to out perform 2 cores running at 2.8 Ghz. For what ever I want to do with the server. In general I mean.

Will Windows or linux servers utilise the extra cores or will I end up slower because of using the slower quad core instead of the faster dual core?

Thanks

[Zertz]

I mainly need to know if 4 cores running at 2.2 Ghz is going to out perform 2 cores running at 2.8 Ghz. For what ever I want to do with the server. In general I mean.

Will Windows or linux servers utilise the extra cores or will I end up slower because of using the slower quad core instead of the faster dual core?

If your applications are generally well multithreaded, the quad will be faster. Otherwise, a higher clocked dual will be faster. It all depends on the apps you're running.

If you run a few things on it, you should take the virtualization route, then a quad will serve it's purpose

[iansane]

Well I actually was wanting to work with virtualization and try out the different options so that's good to know.

I need something I can use as a learning tool and I can only go so far with a desktop PC. Two virtual machines running at the same time is about the limit with a single dual core processor and they are slow and freeze up the host sometimes. Then there's the fact that I just want to have a server.

I want to experiment with linux and windows web servers, mail servers, file servers, Domain controlers with Active Directory, and basically web and network related. I'll probably run a small network of servers and clients on it.

[Zertz]

Well I actually was wanting to work with virtualization and try out the different options so that's good to know.

I need something I can use as a learning tool and I can only go so far with a desktop PC. Two virtual machines running at the same time is about the limit with a single dual core processor and they are slow and freeze up the host sometimes. Then there's the fact that I just want to have a server.

I want to experiment with linux and windows web servers, mail servers, file servers, Domain controlers with Active Directory, and basically web and network related. I'll probably run a small network of servers and clients on it.

If it's just for playing around, just get a quad core desktop and call it a day

Have a hard drive for your everyday/gaming/whatever stuff and a second drive (or array) for tinkering with the server stuff. A Phenom II 940/955 with 4 or even 8GB of RAM will do a fine job at handling VMWare Workstation or ESX if you want to fiddle with that.