Desktop and notebook system processors: Time and energy savings from upgrading to current models We tested the performance and energy usage of current Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based desktop and notebook systems against that of an older Intel Pentium 4 processor-based desktop system and an older Intel Core Duo processor-based notebook system while running three custom application scenarios.

Consumer notebook and desktop systems: Time savings from upgrading to current modelsWe measured the increase in speed that the latest generation of processors brought to four typical consumer tasks: importing and burning video to DVD; importing, resizing, and burning photo images to CD; copying a DVD to iPod touch; and  watching streaming high-definition video.

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Responsiveness of Outlook 2007 SP2 vs. previous Outlook versions We measured the time to conduct a set of real-world email tasks and run typical user workflows.

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OLTP performance comparison: Intel Xeon Processor E5506-based Dell PowerEdge R710 server vs. Intel Xeon Processor E5520-based Dell PowerEdge R710 server We used DVD Store test tool to compare the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 performance of two Intel Xeon processors, each running on the same server.

OLTP performance comparison: Intel Xeon Processor E5540-based Dell PowerEdge R710 server vs. Intel Xeon Processor X5550-based Dell PowerEdge R710 server We used DVD Store test tool to compare the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 performance of two Intel Xeon processors, each running on the same server.

Dell manual server installation time We measured the manual setup time of preparing a server and installing Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition SP2 and several common server applications.

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Battery life performance ratings of the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810TZ notebook system We ran BAPCo’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 battery life benchmark test on the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810TZ.

Battery life performance ratings of two Acer Aspire Timeline 13.3” notebook systems We ran BAPCo’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 battery life benchmark test on the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T and the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810TZ.

Battery life performance ratings of the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T notebook system We ran BAPCo’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 battery life benchmark test on the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T.

Battery life performance ratings of the Acer Aspire Timeline 5810TZ notebook system We ran BAPCo’s MobileMark 2007 Productivity 2007 battery life benchmark test on the Acer Aspire Timeline 5810TZ.

Dell Latitude E6400 notebook competitive analysis We tested the battery life and data performance of three notebook systems: Dell Latitude E6400, HP EliteBook 6930p, and Lenovo ThinkPad T400.

Dell Latitude E5400 notebook competitive analysis We tested the performance and battery life of four notebook systems: Acer TravelMate 4730, Dell Latitude E5400, HP Compaq 6530b, and Lenovo ThinkPad R400.

Desktop and notebook system processors: Time and energy savings from upgrading to current models We tested the performance and energy usage of current Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based desktop and notebook systems against that of an older Intel Pentium 4 processor-based desktop system and an older Intel Core Duo processor-based notebook system while running three custom application scenarios.

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SPECjbb2005 performance and power consumption on Sun Solaris 10 multi-processor AMD-based blade servers from Dell, HP, and IBM We tested the following single blades in their respective enclosures: Dell PowerEdge M905, HP ProLiant BL685c G5, and IBM BladeCenter LS42.

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Dell EqualLogic PS4000XV performance with varying user counts running a combined database, email, and file server workload We determined how many users a Dell EqualLogic PS4000XV storage array can support for small- and medium-business activity involving multiple simultaneous common workloads.

iSCSI 10Gb Software Initiator performance analysis We compare the CPU usage and throughput results of two sets of 10Gb iSCSI initiators in large and small block tests: those of a 10Gb Broadcom HBA vs. those of a 10Gb Intel Software Initiator with I/OAT enabled, and those of a 10Gb Broadcom iSCSI HBA vs. those of a 4Gb QLogic FC HBA.

iSCSI 1Gb Software Initiator performance analysis We compare the CPU usage and throughput results of software-based iSCSI initiators, TCP offload engines (TOE), and hardware-based adapters in large and small block tests on the 1Gb Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE network card.

OLTP performance test comparing Dell PowerVault MD3000i iSCSI SAN Array and HP StorageWorks 2000i Modular Smart Array We compared performance for online transaction processing (OLTP) of two entry-level storage area network (SAN) solutions. We tested both solutions with iSCSI.

Exchange 2007 performance test comparing Dell PowerVault MD3000i SAN Array with Dell PowerVault MD1000 expansion enclosure to HP StorageWorks 2000i Modular Smart Array with an HP StorageWorks 2000sa Modular Smart Array expansion enclosure. We compared the Exchange 2007 performance of two entry-level storage area network solutions. We tested the both products using iSCSI interconnects.

Exchange 2007 performance test comparing Dell EqualLogic PS Series SAN with two PS5000XV arrays to HP StorageWorks 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array with two shelves We compared the Exchange 2007 performance of two mid-range storage area network solutions. We tested the Dell EqualLogic SAN with iSCSI and the HP StorageWorks 4400 using Fibre Channel.

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We conducted a series of studies comparing two types of drives:

• Intel X25-E Extreme SATA solid-state drives (SSDs)
• standard 15K RPM SAS hard disk drives (HDDs)

OLTP performance comparison: Solid-state drives vs. hard disk drives  To compare performance and power for online transaction processing (OLTP), we focused on a single scenario: a user needing additional server performance and wanting to know whether six SSDs installed in server drive slots would provide better performance and lower power consumption than a full external 24-disk enclosure of HDDs.

Windows Media Load Simulator performance comparison: Solid-state drives vs. hard disk drives To compare the performance and power when streaming Windows Media, we used the Windows Media Load Simulator, which tests a server’s ability to accommodate a large number of streaming connections from Microsoft’s Windows Media Server.

Photoshop CS4 performance comparison: Solid-state drives vs. hard disk drives To compare performance on visualization tasks, we used a custom test that included four tasks in Adobe Photoshop CS4: opening the Photoshop application, opening an image, rotating the image, and saving the modified image as a PSD file. We ran these tests in both single- and multi-tasking configurations. 

Exchange performance comparison: Solid-state drives vs. hard disk drives To compare the performance and power for Microsoft Exchange 2007 storage, we used the Primary Storage performance tests from the Microsoft Exchange Solution Reviewed Program (ESRP) test framework. These tests employ the Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress tool.

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SMB workload performance comparison: Dell PowerEdge T410 vs. HP ProLiant ML150 G6 We simultaneously ran three workloads exercising functions that typical small business servers handle. We used WebBench to simulate Web traffic, Microsoft Exchange Load Generator (LoadGen) to simulate email activity, and DVD Store Version 2 (DS2) to simulate database activity. Full report and Summary.

Dell PowerEdge T605 with AMD Opteron 2384 and HP ProLiant ML370 G5 Server with Intel Xeon E5450 comparison We measured the performance of the following servers running Microsoft Windows Server 2008: Dell PowerEdge T605 with AMD Opteron 2384 and HP ProLiant ML370 G5 Server with Intel Xeon E5450. We ran workloads that exercised three of the functions a typical small business server handles: Web, email, and database services.

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BIND DNS performance on Dell and Sun servers running Solaris We measured the DNS performance of the following two servers running the Sun Solaris operating system:  Dell PowerEdge R900 running BIND 9.3.5-P1 on Solaris 10 and Sun Fire V440 running BIND 8.3.3 on Solaris 9.

Migrating from Solaris 9 Enterprise Edition on Sun Fire V440 with BIND 8.3.3 to Solaris 10 Enterprise Edition on Dell PowerEdge R900 with BIND 9.3.5-P1 Covers installing Solaris 10 and configuring DNS on the PowerEdge R900 and migrating a simple DNS configuration from the Sun Fire V440 to the Dell PowerEdge R900.

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Tests of servers using Intel’s new X5570 processor Intel commissioned PT to conduct a series of tests of servers with their Xeon processor X5570 vs. servers with other Intel and AMD processors shipping at the time of the tests.

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PT is working with Dell to create a series of Deployment Guides outlining our recommended approach for implementing a tested and validated solution for SQL Server in a variety of environments. PT is performing hands-on testing and research and drawing on real-world experiences to document best practices and help systems administrators and database administrators simplify operations and take full advantage of the software’s features.

Consolidation via Microsoft's Hyper-V

Consolidating SQL Server 2000 databases from Dell PowerEdge 2650 servers to a Dell PowerEdge R610 server

 

Consolidating multiple SQL Server systems onto Dell PowerEdge R610 servers using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

 

Consolidating SQL Server 2000 databases onto Dell PowerEdge R610 using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

 

How-to Guide: Consolidating multiple SQL Server systems onto Dell PowerEdge servers using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

 

Consolidating SQL Server 2000 onto Dell PowerEdge R900 and PowerEdge R905 using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

 

Consolidating SQL Server 2005 onto Dell PowerEdge R900 and PowerEdge R905 using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

 

Consolidating SQL Server 2008 onto Dell PowerEdge R900 and PowerEdge R905 using Microsoft’s Hyper-V

Consolidation via multiple SQL Server instances

Consolidating SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 databases to SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise on Dell servers (master guide)

 

Consolidating SQL Server databases from Dell PowerEdge 2650 servers to a Dell PowerEdge 2950 server

Consolidating SQL Server databases from Dell PowerEdge 2650 servers to a Dell PowerEdge R805 server

Consolidating SQL Server databases from Dell PowerEdge 6650 servers to a Dell PowerEdge R900 server

Consolidating SQL Server databases from HP ProLiant DL585 with MSA30 arrays to a Dell PowerEdge R905 server with PowerVault MD1000

Consolidating SQL Server databases from Dell PowerEdge 6650 servers to a Dell PowerEdge R905 server

Migration

Migrating SQL Server 2000 Databases to SQL Server 2008 on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise on Dell PowerEdge R900

Deployment

Deployment Guide: SQL Server 2005 x64 on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 on Dell PowerEdge 2970

Deployment Guide: SQL Server 2008 x64 on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 on Dell PowerEdge 2950

Deployment Guide: SQL Server 2008 x64 on Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 on Dell PowerEdge 2950

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Motherboard testing: Ease of integration We tested the following motherboards to determine which would be easiest and fastest for small computer vendors to integrate:  Asus P5Q-VM, Gigabyte GA-EG45M-DS2H, Intel DG45ID, and MSI G45M-FIDR.

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File server performance comparison of three Dell PowerVault NX3000 configurations using Microsoft’s File Server Capacity Tool We compared the performance and the maximum number of supported users of three Dell PowerVault NX3000 unified network storage solution configurations providing file services.

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