RE: [Xen-users] cpu life cycle comparison, virtualized to standard?

["Petersson, Mats" <Mats.Petersson@xxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
> John Hearns
> Sent: 14 March 2007 11:51
> To: tim.post@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Xen-Users
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] cpu life cycle comparison, 
> virtualized to standard?
> 
> Tim Post wrote:
> > Hello to all,
> > 
> > 
> > Does anyone know if this is being studied and if data is becoming
> > available?
> > 
> Google recently produced a report on disk failures.
> http://storagemojo.com/?p=378
> This doesn't give an answer to your question though.
> 
> Purely on a personal level (ie not speaking for my company) the 
> components which most often go wrong are the moving ones - 
> disks and fans.
> That aside, I don't think running systems at 100% utilisation will 
> reduce their lifetime.
> THAT IS if cooling is adequate ie. if you make sure systems 
> are cooled 
> properly, proper front to back flow of cold air, and take steps to 
> monitor the temperatures then I don't think system lifetime will be 
> reduced. Think of all the mainframes and supercomputers which are now 
> either scrapped or sitting in storage - most of them probably still 
> function fine, even though they had hard lives when they were 
> in production.

I completely agree. 

I have seen the "real" Mean Time To Failure analyzis done by AMD. You'd
be surprised how long a CPU will last if it's at 55'C. Problem is that
there are other components that don't last as long. Of course, using the
CPU at higher than 55'C reduces the lifetime (quite noticably if it's
much above this temperature), but I wouldn't worry about it still. It
will be VERY unfashionably ancient by the time it dies of old age. 

Memory, I expect, is similar. 

Of course, if the processor is OUTSIDE it's valid operating temperature,
all bets are off. But unless the cooling in your system is insufficient,
that shouldn't happen. 

As a side-note, all of my systems are running BOINC-projects, which more
or less means that the system is running 100% CPU all the time. I have
not had a CPU-failure that wasn't directly related to: 
1. Lightning strike
2. Heatsink failure/misuse (don't expect the processor[1] to _not_ break
if heatsink isn't attached). 

[1] Modern AMD processors have builtin overheating protection, but older
ones didn't, as I found out the "empirical way".

--
Mats
> 
> 
> 
> John Hearns
> 
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