Christine Austria and Curvature’s Regional Director, Rodrigo Garcia, discuss our most asked server questions.
Christine: It’s time for our “Ask the Expert” lightning round. We are here with Rodrigo Garcia, Regional Director, to tackle four of the most asked questions regarding the current server landscape. Is the latest generation truly a must-have for your VMs? Or is the previous generation the smarter long-term play? We’re looking at speed, obsolescence, core density, and cooling. Let’s dive in.
Do I Really Need the Latest CPUs for Standard VMs?
Christine: Is the latest generation significantly faster for my standard VMs?
Rodrigo: That’s a very good question. In a clock-for-clock comparison, you may see 10 to 15 percent improvement. In practice, bottlenecks are storage or network-related. For standard virtualization, generation minus one is usually more than sufficient. Ultimately, staying one generation back will allow you to redirect your budget towards faster storage or 25 gig networking, where you will feel the performance gains much more than in the CPUs.
Will Previous-Generation Servers Age Out Too Quickly?
Christine: Will the previous generation be obsolete in three years?
Rodrigo: No, absolutely not. Platforms such as HP Gen11 or Dell 16th Generation introduced DDR5 and PCIe Gen5, technologies that remain industry standards. These systems are built to remain enterprise viable throughout 2030. Investing in these platforms today ensures that your hardware lifecycle aligns with the current software roadmaps without paying the premium cost for the absolute latest and greatest hardware release.
Is Maximum Core Density Worth the Cost?
Christine: With the latest generation offering over 100 cores, shouldn’t I upgrade for maximum density?
Rodrigo: Well, only if the workload requires it. Most enterprise applications are constrained by memory and IEO, not CPU cores. Because licensing is per core, moving to 100 cores plus platform can dramatically increase software costs. For most customers, the previous generation, that’s between 60 and 64 cores, remains the optimal balance. Now, by avoiding unnecessary core density, you can keep your software license fees under control and invest those savings into higher-performing RAM or storage.
What Are the Power and Cooling Implications of Upgrading?
Christine: Can I deploy latest generation servers in my existing racks without changes?
Rodrigo: Well, power and cooling must be reviewed first. Latest-generation CPUs often draw 30 to 40 percent more power and may require higher-performance fans or liquid cooling. Staying with the previous generation avoids hidden data center retrofit costs. When we compare the previous generation to the latest high-density hardware, the infrastructure requires to be changed significantly. On the cooling side, we are moving away from standard airflow into the territory of high-performance fans or even dedicated liquid cooling to manage the heat. So, we are also seeing a massive jump in rack power demands. While the previous generation was sitting comfortably between 10 and 15 kilowatts, the latest generation can push that from 20 to even 40 kilowatts per rack.
Christine: Okay, that wraps up our “Ask the Expert” lightning round with Rodrigo Garcia. If you’re weighing performance, cost, longevity in your server strategy, we hope this gives you clarity. See you next time on “Ask the Expert”.
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