$50,101. To determine price-performance for each server, we divided the servers’ OPM scores by the price of the respective servers to see how many OPM per dollar each server returned.

As Figure 5 shows, in a

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Price-performance results

 

virtualized environment, the Dell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PowerEdge R815, with a price-

 

score

 

16.1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

performance score of 16.1,

 

14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

achieved 96 percent better price-

 

performance

12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

performance than the IBM

 

8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

System x3850 X5, which had a

 

6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

price-

4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

price-performance score of 8.2.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6 shows the active

 

 

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dell PowerEdge R815

 

IBM System x3850 X5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and idle power usage results, by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5: Price-performance scores for the test servers. Higher numbers are better.

 

watts, for the Dell PowerEdge

 

R815 server and for the IBM System x3850 X5 server. Lower numbers are better. In a virtualized environment, the Dell PowerEdge R815 server had up to 25 percent lower active power than the IBM System x3850 X5 server.5

Power usage

Dell PowerEdge R815

IBM System x3850 X5

Active power (W)

716

962

Idle power (W)

284

597

Figure 6: Power usage results, in watts, for the test servers. Lower numbers are better.

HOW WE TESTED

Setting up and configuring the Dell storage

We used six Dell EqualLogic™ PS5000XV storage arrays with 16 disks each for this testing. Each array was equipped with a Dell EqualLogic Control Module 4 with three Ethernet ports. We cabled each of the three Ethernet ports to a Dell PowerConnect™ 6248. We used an Intel PRO/1000 PT quad-port NIC in each server for testing. We cabled all four Ethernet ports to the Dell PowerConnect 6248.

4Based on DVD Store Version 2 testing conducted by Principled Technologies, Inc., and reported in “Virtualized database performance comparison: Dell PowerEdge R815 vs. IBM System x3850 X5,” comparing Dell PowerEdge R815 server with AMD Opteron processors Model 6174 (12 cores per processor package) and IBM System x3850 X5 server with Intel Xeon Processor X7560s (8 cores per processor package), an August, 2010 report commissioned by Dell Inc. For details, see http://principledtechnologies.com/clients/reports/Dell/PowerEdge_R815_vs_IBM_virt_database_0810.pdf.

5Ibid.

Virtualized database performance comparison: Dell PowerEdge

A Principled Technologies test report 6

R815 vs. IBM System x3850 X5