FreeBSD 7 on old SMP server?

[Joshua Coombs]

MaXX wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> I have an old netfinity 7000 (Quad PIII 500, 1Gb RAM) running 6.2 at the moment. I was wondering if it will take benefit of all the SMP improvement of 7 or is it too old? It runs a few postgresql databases, peak loads in the 2 to 4 range.
> 
> As I do not have another equivalent machine, I prefer to ask before trying myself.
> 
> I quite happy with the performances of my laptop (centrino duo) under 7, and hope my old server will be as happy as my laptop.
> 
> 
> thanks in advance,
> --
> MaXX 

My hacked up 386 showed gains going from 6.2 to 7, the big win that I've 
noticed is scp throughput, I can sustain 40 to 45kbps where in the past 
the box walled at around 30kbps.  Apache seems to have less latency 
responding to gets also.  I'm just running a 7b3 kernel at the moment, 
I'm going to have to repartition with a lot more swap space to be able 
to build a 7 world (When did the ram use for a buildworld skyrocket?!) 
but even with this setup, 7 + ULE is a win for me.

My other test case is a dual P3 1ghz box, running qmail, and moving from 
6 to 7 has given me a decent boost in mail throughput capacity. (The box 
can now sustain approx 250 messages a second where before it would start 
backlogging before 200 messages a second.)

http://www.x386.net/about.html

Josh C