Category Archives: Computer Hardware

Intel Haswell-EP Processor Rumors

Intel releases a new processor microarchitecture every two years, which is called a Tock release. One year later, they take that same microarchitecture and move it to a new, smaller manufacturing process, along with adding some minor feature improvements. This … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Haswell, Intel, Processors | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Choosing a Mobile Workstation

I get a lot of e-mail and Twitter requests for advice about what laptop someone should buy. I don’t mind this too much (I actually sort of like it, to be honest), but it probably makes some sense to summarize … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Dell, Intel, Ivy Bridge, Laptops, Processors | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Three Generations of Toshiba Portege Laptops Compared

Since I am a bit of a hardware enthusiast, I tend to buy new computer hardware a little more often than the average person (probably too often)! I like to have a smaller laptop for teaching and presentations, that is … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Ivy Bridge, Laptops, Processors, Sandy Bridge | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Two Socket Database Servers vs. Four Socket Database Servers

Fujitsu has submitted a new TPC-E benchmark for a two socket, Sandy Bridge-EP system that had a tpsE score of 1,871.81.  It is no real surprise that this system is using the very capable Intel Xeon E5-2690 processor, which has … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Processors, SQL Server 2012 | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Where to Buy a New Laptop

Let’s say that you are in the market to buy a new laptop or ultra book to replace that old clunker that you have been suffering with. You want to be able to check out a number of different brands … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Laptops, Microsoft | Tagged | 10 Comments

Analyzing TPC-E Benchmark Performance by Physical Processor Core

The TPC Benchmark E (TPC-E) is an OLTP performance benchmark that was introduced in May, 2007. The TPC-E benchmark is a not a replacement for the old TPC-C benchmark, but rather is a completely new OLTP benchmark. Even though this … Continue reading

Posted in AMD, Computer Hardware, Intel, Processors, SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2012 | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Dell 12th Generation Server Cheat Sheet

Over the past several months, Dell has been rolling out a number of new 12th generation servers that all use the new 32nm Intel Xeon E5 series processor (aka Sandy Bridge-EP). These new servers all have much higher memory density … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Dell, Processors, SQL Server 2012 | Tagged | 10 Comments

Speaking at Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta 2012 on May 19

I will be presenting two sessions at the Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta in Denver on May 19, 2012. This is an all-day, free event that is very similar to a SQLSaturday or a CodeCamp. There are a large number of … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Microsoft, Teaching | Tagged | Leave a comment

Building an Intel Ivy Bridge Desktop System, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote about buying some of the components that I needed to build a new 22nm Ivy Bridge based desktop system. When I wrote that initial blog post, the actual Ivy Bridge desktop processors were not … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Intel, Ivy Bridge, Processors | Tagged | 5 Comments

Checking Your Main BIOS Version

As some of you may know, I spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps back during the Reagan administration. I started out as an 0311 Basic Rifleman (aka Grunt) for a couple of years, and then became an 1811 … Continue reading

Posted in Computer Hardware, Dell, Laptops | Tagged , , | 11 Comments