64-Bit SQL Server Clocks Fastest 32-Way TPC-C Result

Microsoft's 64-bit computing platform continues to claim performance records on the way to its launch, expected in April. Last week, NEC published a Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) TPC-C benchmark result that used the 64-bit versions of SQL Server and Windows Server 2003 to clock the fastest 32-way online transaction processing (OLTP) scores in the world. SQL Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003 now hold world records for performance for 2-way, 4-way, 8-way, and 32-way systems.

The NEC Express5800/1320Xc--running the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit)--recorded 433,107 transactions per minute (tpmC). The one system that's posted a higher TPC-C non-clustered score achieved only 5 percent more performance using four times as many processors and cost more than twice as much per transaction.

At $12.98 per tpmC, this new result features the third best price-performance of any result among the top 10 performers. The two systems that claim better price-performance also run Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, giving Windows-based systems the top three price-performance results in this category. For more information about this and other TPC-C benchmark scores, see the TPC site at http://www.tpc.org .