The bench notes
Server guides & buying advice
Model comparisons, platform explainers and configuration advice — written from the hardware we refurbish, test and ship every day.
Performance optimization
GPU Servers: What Actually Fits in 2U and 4U
Chassis height, card TDP, power connectors, airflow and PCIe topology decide how many accelerators a server can really take. A practical guide to what fits in...
Performance optimization
RDIMM vs LRDIMM: Populating Server Memory Correctly
Registered and load-reduced DIMMs solve different electrical problems, and the difference shows up in capacity ceilings, clock speeds and rank budgets. Here is how each one...
Buying guide
Dell Precision 7920 vs 7960: Two Generations of Big Iron
Both towers reach 56 cores ? one with two Xeon Scalable sockets, the other with a single Xeon W-3400. The difference lands in memory topology, PCIe...
Performance optimization
HP Z8 G4: A Workstation With Server DNA
The Z8 G4 is a two-socket Xeon Scalable platform in a deskside tower: 24 DIMM slots, 12 memory channels, 96 PCIe lanes. Here is what it...
Performance optimization
Four-Socket Servers: When Two CPUs Are Not Enough
The reason to add a third and fourth socket is almost never core count - it is memory capacity, memory channels and PCIe lanes in one...
Buying guide
When a Gen9 Server Is Still the Smart Buy
HPE ProLiant Gen9 is a decade-old platform, but for disk-bound, memory-hungry, and non-per-core-licensed workloads it is still a rational purchase. Here is where it fits, where...
Business Server
Choosing CPUs by License Cost, Not Benchmarks
When software bills by core or socket, the CPU decision leaves the benchmark charts and enters the spreadsheet. How per-core licensing reshapes Xeon selection, the high-clock...
Performance optimization
The 10GbE Upgrade Path: NICs, Switches and Reality
Gigabit is the bottleneck hiding under most storage complaints. What 10GbE actually changes, the used NICs worth buying (X520, X710, ConnectX), switch options that stopped being...
Performance optimization
DAC, Optics or Copper: Cabling 10GbE
Three ways to move ten gigabits: direct-attach copper for the rack, optics for distance, 10GBASE-T for existing cable plants. Cost, heat, latency and compatibility - and...
Performance optimization
SSD Endurance Explained: DWPD, TBW and What They Mean
Endurance ratings translate into each other with one formula - and into purchasing decisions with one honest question: how much do you actually write? Decoding DWPD...
Performance optimization
Xeon E5 v3 vs v4: What a Stepping Buys You
Same sockets, same servers, one letter apart: Haswell and Broadwell E5s coexist in the R630/R730 and Gen9 era, and the differences - core counts, DDR4 speed,...
Performance optimization
SAS, SATA or NVMe: Picking Drive Interfaces
Interface determines latency ceiling, queue depth and what the backplane can accept. Where SATA is still the right economics, what SAS's dual ports and deep queues...
Performance optimization
RAM or Cores: Sizing a Virtualization Host
Almost every virtualization host runs out of memory long before it runs out of CPU. The overcommit ratios that actually work, how to count vCPUs honestly,...