Selecting CPU/architecture for new system?

[Wojciech Puchar]

>
> I'm currently in the process of selecting hardware for a FreeBSD
> system having the main task of collecting network statistics via MRTG
> or RRDtool. In addition the machine in question should be used to
> collect netflow statistics plus providing a web-interface for
> displaying them.
>
> To give you an impression about the workload to be expected: Currently
> the system is a dual Xeon machine with 3GHz-CPUs reaching work loads
> (top) of 7 to 9. Disk-IO btw is not the problem.
>
>
> For the new system I thought about a 4-CPU machine, 4GB RAM - with
> either 32- or 64-bit architecture.

definitely Opteron based. this are really FAST, including really fast 
memory bandwidth, not only CPU.

at least - lowest end Athlon64 machines are comparable in speed with high 
end P4 :)


FreeBSD works fine on Athlon64/Opteron machines. not tested (by me) on 
multiprocessor ones, but it should be not a problem.

> o) Should I stick with a 32-bit architecture (i386) or go for any of
> the 64-architectures?

go to Opteron 64-bit architecture.

> o) Is FreeBSD 6.1 considered equally stable under the i386
> architecture as under any of the 64bit architectures?
>

not tested by me. but simply test it before buying.

> o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPUs supported in i386?
>
yes.


> o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPU supported in any of the 64-bit
> architectures?

yes.

>
> o) Anything else to consider in this context?

try to optimize software you use first :) only if it's impossible buy new 
machine.