[Discuss] 8 core CPUs, liquid colling

[tmetro-blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

I see Micro Center is promoting AMD 8-core CPUs starting at $200
(FX-8120 $200, FX-8150 $260):
http://www.microcenter.com/storefronts/amd/Expired/FX_assets/fx_index.html

They seem to be marketing them to D-I-Y builders of performance
desktops, but I'm wondering if these are any good for servers.

Here's AnandTech's review:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4955/the-bulldozer-review-amd-fx8150-tested

They weren't very enthusiastic about it, but their benchmarks are quite
desktop-oriented. (For example, one of their multi-core benchmarks
depended on the floating point performance, and this chip share one FPU
per two integer cores, and thus faired poorly.) I'd be curious how it
benchmarks when running many mundane server loads. And how it compares
to other CPUs on a performance per watt basis. (This part apparently can
vary the clock frequency of each core independently.)

Anyone heard how suitable these are for server tasks or seen articles
that address this?


In other matters, the above review also mentions that AMD is now selling
a rebranded liquid cooling solution, which reminded me of this Antec
cooler I see advertised at Micro Center:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361180

It's a bit different from traditional liquid cooling solutions in that
the it comes as a closed system with the radiator permanently attached
to the CPU block with a fixed length of tubing. Should be about as easy
to install as a common CPU cooler. At $50 it is also cheaper than what I
remember a water cooling setup costing.

The description on a similar Corsair cooler says, "a total noise level
that's lower than most stock CPU fans." Stock? That's not exactly a high
benchmark.

I think the interesting opportunity with water cooling is that you can
transfer the heat to a large passive radiator and avoid the noise of a
fan, but that isn't what this accomplishes. They don't make any
particular claims about the actual cooling performance, so beyond the
flexibility of locating the radiator separate from the CPU block (which
might be useful in a small case), it isn't clear what advantage this
offers over traditional coolers.

Anyone tried these out? Can you hear the water gurgling? :-)

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/