Any chance of someone optimizing the client for Intel 64-bit CPUs?

[bguinto1]

Anyone working on optimizing the client to make use of Windows 2003, 64-bit using Intel CPUs? I've beta tested it on a 64-bit Server but performance is lacking.

I'd like to run this on a 64-way WINTEL 64-bit server for a couple of days/weeks in the next phase and it would sure be nice if the code was optimized!

[HaloJones]

Yeah, I'd like to do that too...

... shame I don't have one

[djp]

Come to think of it, I've got a mere 4-way 1GHz Itanium-2 box running Server 2003 that spends most of its week waiting to test code.

64-way? Wow! How much RAM do you have in that moster?

[bguinto1]

The Server at the moment is capable of running with 64 1.5 Ghz 64-bit CPUs and up to 1 terabyte of Memory. The server is obviously overkill for DF, but I'd like to see what 1 server is capable of in this things. It'll probably set a 1 day record!

[shortfinal]

Originally posted by bguinto1
The server is obviously overkill for DF, ...

What do you mean overkill?! I'm sure Howard would just love to see a bunch of these servers running DF.

Shortfinal

[Grumpy]

I just hope you do not have a slow connection cause that amount of data waiting for uploading will really jam up your Internet Connection

[Brian the Fist]

Unfortunately we have not gotten our hands on any Itaniums yet. I don't think MSVC supports Itanium specific optimizations (maybe .NET??) but I can assure you as soon as we DO get a 64-bit Windows box it will be added to our build farm. (Does anyone really buy these already, they seem very overpriced for their performance no?)

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by Brian the Fist
(Does anyone really buy these already, they seem very overpriced for their performance no?)

Doesn't everything Intel makes?



(and no, I'm not completely joking here, either... but I am mostly joking)

[bguinto1]

Originally posted by Brian the Fist
Unfortunately we have not gotten our hands on any Itaniums yet. I don't think MSVC supports Itanium specific optimizations (maybe .NET??) but I can assure you as soon as we DO get a 64-bit Windows box it will be added to our build farm. (Does anyone really buy these already, they seem very overpriced for their performance no?)

Too bad for me I guess. BTW, if you are using applications that can take advantage of the higher memory addresses, Itaniums are a good solution. In fact, from a price/performance standpoint they are the best solution out there at the moment (http://www.tpc.org/tpcc/results/tpcc_perf_results.asp) if your app can take advantage of them.

ben.

[djp]

Originally posted by bwkaz
Doesn't everything Intel makes?



(and no, I'm not completely joking here, either... but I am mostly joking)

I'm not speaking officially for Intel here, but I have played with several Itanium boxes.

Itanium is not meant to compete with the old x86 family (also known as IA-32 platform). It goes beyond the limitations of the older architecture while preserving a minimum of compatibility.

If you've got an application that fits comfortably on a Pentium III or an Athlon, SURE, you're going to spend much less money running that app on the P3 or Athlon. If you've got some kind of database or computational engine that needs more than 4GB of RAM to keep from thrashing the hard drives with VM page faults, you're much better-off running it on the Itanium with 8GB or more of RAM at hand.

It's all a matter of choosing the right horses for the courses.

[Darkness Productions]

2 questions for bguinto:

1) What system do you have that supports 64 processors?
2) What version of Windows 2003 do you have that supports 64 processors? The "Top of the Line" version of Win2k3 only supports 32 processors.......

[bguinto1]

Originally posted by Darkness Productions
2 questions for bguinto:

1) What system do you have that supports 64 processors?
2) What version of Windows 2003 do you have that supports 64 processors? The "Top of the Line" version of Win2k3 only supports 32 processors.......

1) Check the link above. It's one of the servers I cited.
2) Windows can support up to 64 CPUs, it's not available thru the normal retail channels. It's called the Data Center edition.

[pointwood]

Originally posted by bguinto1
2) Windows can support up to 64 CPUs, it's not available thru the normal retail channels. It's called the Data Center edition.

So I can't go down to my local IT shop an get it? Bugger - I was just about to head down there to ask for an evaluation copy

[bguinto1]

Howard,

If you're willing to provide the code, I can attempt to improve your optimization on Intel/Windows platforms, with special emphasis on Itanium2.

Thanks.