Most servers in today's enterprise computing landscape adopt a dual-socket format configuration rather than a single-socket one – meaning it can house dual processors that work in tandem, rather than just one. While it might sound fool-proof in theory, theoretically doubling performance without altering the server footprint, today's cutting-edge technology means it may not be necessary – and it could actually be much cheaper and more efficient to switch to a single-socket server.
This is the subject of a blog post written by Robert Hormuth, AMD's corporate vice president, architecture and strategy – data center solutions group. In it, Hormuth argues single-socket servers are occasionally better than a dual-socket machine. Why? Frankly, the best processors today are more than capable of running really intense workloads – and you get an efficiency boost by not having to sustain running double the number of processors without compromising on performance, depending on your particular workloads.
