Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 15:16:08 -0500 (EST) From: Andrew Gallatin <gallatin@cs.duke.edu> To: Steve Kargl <sgk@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: hardware questions Message-ID: <14555.51797.138155.655566@grasshopper.cs.duke.edu> In-Reply-To: <200003241747.JAA07648@troutmask.apl.washington.edu> References: <200003241747.JAA07648@troutmask.apl.washington.edu>
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Steve Kargl writes: > [yes, this is probably -questions material, but it is alpha specific] > [yes, I searched the mailinglist archive, but it stops at 15 Feb 00]. > > I have been tasked by my research group to evaluate and upgrade > out computational facilities. Our current computations can > consume from 100 to 500 MB of memory and the runtimes can be > from 1 day to 1 week for a single computation. These numbers > apply to a dual PPRO FreeBSD system and a Digital Unix system. > Our future requirements suggest that the consumed memory will > easily exceed 1 to 2 GB per calculations. > > Questions: > > (1) What alpha platform would be recommended for heavy duty > numerical work? One of the DS10, DS10L or XP1000 series would be the most cost effective. > (2) What is the maximum amount of memory currently supported > under FreeBSD on alpha hardware? The FreeBSD supports up to 2GB of ram in the above systems (I think the DS10 will only physically accept 1GB). Support was recently added for the AlphaServer 8x00, where we also support up to 2GB of ram. We support only 1GB on most other systems. This limitation has to do with the fact that we rely on the direct DMA map. > (3) Are there any recommended vendors of alpha hardware? Find your regional Compaq sales rep & make sure you get your full edu discount. Don't use 1-800-DIGITAL if you can avoid it. Sometimes private outfits will have better prices -- we bought 6 DS10s from DCG (www.dcginc.com) and had no complaints. They came with linux, which I wiped when I did the platform support for the DS10. (Its motivational to purchase hardware you know won't work until you write the support for it ;) > MP hardware is acceptable in that I have no reservations about > running FreeBSD-bleeding-edge. You might consider getting a DS20 or DP264 & purchasing a second CPU when MP support becomes available. The UP2000 is cheaper, but it has less memory bandwidth than the genuine DEQ DS20 & DP264. We support 2GB of ram in all these systems. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew Gallatin, Sr Systems Programmer http://www.cs.duke.edu/~gallatin Duke University Email: gallatin@cs.duke.edu Department of Computer Science Phone: (919) 660-6590 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message
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