Just saw this article i know it's for a general market (PC, Server, Mobile, etc) the question is, do they still have a decent/good market in server (VPS included) environment? I haven't see any offers that come with AMD processor for a long time, well what i know MitgiB still have it but only a few CMIIW
D. Strout
Resident IPv6 Proponent
I've got an AMD Phenom II 555 Black edition. Good little processor for a budget custom build. But the OP is referring to AMD's server processors.Am I the lone AMD user here?
Like what @D. Strout said, he's referring to servers not home built machines. Although my home built machine does use an AMD Athlon II X4.
I personally have a Phenom II 840 from Datashack that acts as a personal VPS and storage node. In terms of actual VPS/production environment, I do know @Damian and IPXCore use AMD Opteron 4184 for a VPS Node, I believe it's named Diamond (I'm on it currently). They run pretty well and I can't complain.
Personally, I've found love and respect for their Opteron CPUs, although I don't know how they got the number 4184.
I personally have a Phenom II 840 from Datashack that acts as a personal VPS and storage node. In terms of actual VPS/production environment, I do know @Damian and IPXCore use AMD Opteron 4184 for a VPS Node, I believe it's named Diamond (I'm on it currently). They run pretty well and I can't complain.
Personally, I've found love and respect for their Opteron CPUs, although I don't know how they got the number 4184.
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I remember a while ago AMD CPUs were generally more expensive than Intel ones (I'm being very broad here). Also, I remember AMD was much slower with CPU development than Intel. I remember when Intel came out with the quad core much earlier than AMD. I feel like AMD still hasn't caught up since then and therefore most of them are Intel-based.
Of course this was a long long longgg time ago and this is all personal speculation. I've done almost no research on it since then, so much could have changed. If it has then definitely correct me.
AMD is quite cost competitive against low and midrange Intel processors that have about the same performance, but Intel is more power efficient, which is a big deal for servers, especially heavily loaded ones. Small providers are doing good if they can get data center power for $20 an amp, which means that each watt going to the CPU costs about $2 a year. So if an AMD FX8350 (125W) computes about as well as an Intel E3-1230v2 (70 W), over a 3 year hardware lifecycle Intel saves you around $300 in power bills. Even if AMD gave you the FX8350 for free, you'd still be ahead paying retail for the E3.
For a home computer it's less of an issue: the computer is powered off or idling most of the time, so power consumption is much lower, and people are more sensitive to up-front expenditures than to monthly expenses.
For a home computer it's less of an issue: the computer is powered off or idling most of the time, so power consumption is much lower, and people are more sensitive to up-front expenditures than to monthly expenses.
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this is a bad thing. without amd competing on the server market intel will have less incentive to drop prices and innovate production lines. :-(
AMD and server market, this does not add up. AMD has cpus with lot
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Re OVH and Hetzner: a VPS host with a few colocated boxes is in a much different position regarding power costs than someone who owns a huge data center full of their own servers. The colo customer is a captive market for a commodity that might be expensive in the first place (utility power in someplace like Los Angeles) and then is marked up by the DC and possibly a chain of middlemen, before the VPS host gets to use it. So the VPS host pays several times residential rates (backup generator access is part of this cost though, admittedly).
OVH and Hetzner
1) site their DC's in places where electricity is cheap, like OVH Beauharnois is at the site of an old aluminum smelting plant (near Quebec Hydro and with insane amounts of transmission capacity already in place); OVH France (Roubaix) and Hetzner (Germany) are out in the boondocks of their respective countries and I bet power costs had something to do with their choice of locations;
2) deal directly with electric utilities and get good rates as large industrial customers;
3) pay only for power actually used--a colo customer buying a 20 amp circuit will AIUI usually get charged for all 20 amps even if their servers aren't fully loaded most of the time. They have to budget for full loads because they don't have 1000's of servers with differing workloads to average across;
4) in some cases, DC operators can recoup some electricity costs through cogeneration, i.e. using the DC's waste heat to warm up homes or offices. Where I used to work, my boss once got seriously interested in farming tilapia (warmwater fish) using our DC's exhaust heat. I don't think anything came of it though. A colo customer will usually not receive any of these savings/profits.
OVH and Hetzner
1) site their DC's in places where electricity is cheap, like OVH Beauharnois is at the site of an old aluminum smelting plant (near Quebec Hydro and with insane amounts of transmission capacity already in place); OVH France (Roubaix) and Hetzner (Germany) are out in the boondocks of their respective countries and I bet power costs had something to do with their choice of locations;
2) deal directly with electric utilities and get good rates as large industrial customers;
3) pay only for power actually used--a colo customer buying a 20 amp circuit will AIUI usually get charged for all 20 amps even if their servers aren't fully loaded most of the time. They have to budget for full loads because they don't have 1000's of servers with differing workloads to average across;
4) in some cases, DC operators can recoup some electricity costs through cogeneration, i.e. using the DC's waste heat to warm up homes or offices. Where I used to work, my boss once got seriously interested in farming tilapia (warmwater fish) using our DC's exhaust heat. I don't think anything came of it though. A colo customer will usually not receive any of these savings/profits.
A Jump From Let
New Member
Agreed, buying ATI which is now AMD Radeon gave them a great push.
Intel are also increasing their embedded graphic chips power mainly starting from 2nd and 3rd generation of i processors.
I also wonder why AMD processors are not much utilized in that industry, mainly in LEB and vps market since they seem more common in dedicated server market, even though AMD were known for budget prices.
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