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 Need opinion on new purchase

Author  Topic 

WindChaser
Posting Yak Master

225 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-18 : 08:56:06
I need to purchase a new computer for a small medical clinic which will basically only have one purpose: to answer to read and write queries to a SQL Server 2005 which is resident on that computer. Queries come from the current 8 stations (up to 14 stations in the future). Most of the time, only 3 stations will be active at a time. Queries are mostly to access patient file information, are not complex and are short-lived.

A friend of mine who owns a computer store just quoted me for a dual quad-core Xeon 5405 2GHz system with Windows Server 2003 10 Cals. I'm concerned about the following:
- What's the use in having 8 cores, each of them running at only
2GHz, when there's really only one service running (SQL Server
2005, likely Express Edition) on the computer. Does SQL Server
have the capability to make use of all cores? Otherwise, why
spend more for Xeon and so many cores instead of a single
C2D running at a faster speed of say 3GHz ?
- What would be the advantage of using a Windows Server over
Windows XP in a peer-to-peer configuration? I don't buy into
the 10 connection limit because the TCPIP.sys file can be
altered to move that limit up, so 14 stations does not trigger
the need for Windows Server in and of itself.

Thanks all!

rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-18 : 22:03:03
It depends on sql2k5 edition, sql2k5 express can only use 2 processors. Sql performs much better on machine with multiple processors.
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WindChaser
Posting Yak Master

225 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-19 : 07:59:31
Very helpful. But I went to the MS web site and it indicates that Express can only support 1 CPU with multicore support and 1GB RAMQ, Workgroup can support 2CPUs and 3GB RAM, Standard can support 4 CPUs with no RAM limit, and both Enterprise and Developer have no limits. Reference is: http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo/features/compare-features.mspx .

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Now I know what hardware to buy. All that remains now is for me to figure out is if it's going to be Windows Server or Windows XP Pro. Thanks!
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spirit1
Cybernetic Yak Master

11752 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-19 : 08:50:11
windows server definitly.

_______________________________________________
Causing trouble since 1980
blog: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp
SSMS Add-in that does a few things: www.ssmstoolspack.com <- new version out
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WindChaser
Posting Yak Master

225 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-19 : 15:19:23
spirit1, thanks but like... why? This is a "less-than-small" business with little interest in internet connectivity and, therefore, little requirement for external security. Honestly, internal security is not much of any issue either. How can I technically justify the additional cost of a Windows Server?
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spirit1
Cybernetic Yak Master

11752 Posts

Posted - 2007-12-19 : 15:51:59
well... i guess you can put it on xp... but then you have to put a standard edition or express edition on.
you can't install enterprise on xp.

but xp really isn't built for serious server stuff. you'll have to weigh that yourself...

_______________________________________________
Causing trouble since 1980
blog: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/mladenp
SSMS Add-in that does a few things: www.ssmstoolspack.com <- new version out
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