1 processor vs. 2

[Scott W]

Joseph Koenig wrote:

>I'm putting together a system that will host a relatively small database
>(around 20,000 records), as well as run Apache / PHP to search that
>database. I have the option in front of me to use a P III dual 1GHz machine
>with a SCSI Raid 5, or to use a single P4 2.8 GHz with a SCSI Raid 1. Both
>have 1GB RAM. I'm looking to use MySQL as the DB. The site that this machine
>will host gets about 2 million hits per months (yes, hits, not pageviews or
>visitors) from about 21,000 unique visitors. Does anyone have an opinion as
>to which machine will perform best under this scenario? Obviously, both
>would run FreeBSD. Thanks,
>
>Joe Koenig
>Production Manager
>jWeb New Media Design
>joe at jWebmedia.com
>http://www.jwebmedia.com/
>636.928.3162 
>
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>
Someone else already mentioned this, but RAID-1 will be faster than the 
RAID-5 at the storage level, if the RAID-5 array is a relatively small # 
of drives.  If you're talking about 2 disk RAID-1 versus 10 disks 
RAID-5, those numbers may change.  If the drives are integrated into the 
systems, it's also possible the RAID-1 disks are faster drives than the 
RAID-5 drives...

If you're going to run the DB and web server on the same system with a 
high percentage of static pages, the SMP system may help out.

If you have almost all dynamic content is full of complex DB queries, 
the P4 would do better based solely on CPU speed.

How about RAID-1 on the dual PIII and keep the P4 as a workstation? :-)

The PIII is likely up to the task, but it really depends on the type of 
content (is _everything_ PHP generating dynamic content, every page 
hitting the DB etc?)

Scott