I'm currently running a busy forum site (520K page views/day on average, 735K peak) on a 2.6Ghz P4 w/2GB RAM that I started leasing in Dec. 2003. It's a mostly PHP/MySQL site with bits of Perl CGI here & there. RAM is the biggest bottleneck during peak periods.

I'm looking to upgrade to the Dual Xeon 2.8 with 4GB RAM (and pay the one-time RAM setup fee) but am wondering if there are other options that would offer better CPU performance with 4GB RAM in the same $150-$170/month price range. The sales page only describes the processor as Dual Xeon 2.8, doesn't say which Xeon 2.8 this is, its FSB speed, etc. (there have been several).

How would the offered Dual Xeon 2.8 compare, performance-wise, with any of the low-end Conroe servers? (I assume the 3040 is 1.86 GHz and the 3060 is 2.4GHz, correct?)

What is the maximum RAM I can put in the Dual Xeon 2.8?

Will CentOS 4 recognize and use all 4GB? If not, which Linux or BSD version will?

Thanks for any advice.

I tend to think the 3060 at 2.4 Ghz would be noticeably faster than the dual 2.8 Ghz Xeon -- not only is it newer chip technology, but it has 4 MB of L2 cache and a faster FSB of 1066 mhz. As far as I know, the 2.8 Ghz special is luck of the draw from the pool of available 2.8 Ghz dual Xeons, so you might get a 533 fsb 512k cache (per cpu) or you might get an 800 fsb 1 MB cache (per cpu). (I think all the 3.2's are 800 fsb so you could also consider that).

P.S. I should add that despite the above, I myself have a pair of 2.8's (have one 800 and one 533 fsb right now) and they're both nice servers for me.