{"video_id":"864HSWFIBY4","title":"What’s The Difference Between A Server and a PC?","channel":"Techquickie","show":"Techquickie","published_at":"2024-11-14T21:00:05+00:00","duration_s":460,"segments":[{"start_s":0.0,"end_s":5.76,"text":"Whether it's a server or a gaming PC, every computer needs the same basic components.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.76,"end_s":9.8,"text":"A central processing unit or CPU, working memory or RAM,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.8,"end_s":12.92,"text":"some kind of storage device, a motherboard to connect everything together,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.92,"end_s":18.04,"text":"and systems for power and cooling. The difference then is in the configuration","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.04,"end_s":22.24,"text":"of these components. And three of the big reasons that servers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.24,"end_s":27.4,"text":"have different configurations from desktop PCs are that they need to be more power efficient,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":27.4,"end_s":32.48,"text":"more reliable, and more scalable. Servers often live in data centers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.48,"end_s":36.4,"text":"with hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":36.4,"end_s":39.84,"text":"of individual machines. So as you can imagine,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":39.84,"end_s":46.56,"text":"space savings is a major consideration. That's why servers tend to use stacking rack-mountable cases","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":46.56,"end_s":49.76,"text":"that have similar general cooling flows as each other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":49.76,"end_s":54.76,"text":"to make deployments more scalable. However, even more than the cost of the space","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":54.76,"end_s":58.0,"text":"that they take up, the cost of the power they consume","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":58.0,"end_s":61.64,"text":"has been a huge driver of server design in recent years.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.64,"end_s":64.92,"text":"And keeping power consumption down is extremely important","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.92,"end_s":68.16,"text":"unless you want to overwhelm the nuclear plant next door.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":68.16,"end_s":73.36,"text":"Now, one way to help with this is to use a higher quality power supply to reduce waste.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":73.36,"end_s":76.68,"text":"But a better way is to use more efficient components","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":76.68,"end_s":80.4,"text":"in the first place so you just don't consume as much power.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.4,"end_s":83.48,"text":"Let's start by talking about server CPUs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.52,"end_s":86.76,"text":"Instead of the two to 16 processing cores","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":86.76,"end_s":91.28,"text":"that you might find in a gaming CPU, server CPUs commonly have dozens","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":91.28,"end_s":94.32,"text":"or even hundreds of processing cores.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.32,"end_s":98.28,"text":"Wow! But if you drill down into the spec sheet,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.28,"end_s":103.6,"text":"you'll find that these cores are often running at lower clock speeds than you might be used to.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":103.6,"end_s":108.44,"text":"This allows servers to handle a huge volume of simultaneous requests","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":108.44,"end_s":111.72,"text":"without consuming any more power than necessary.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":111.72,"end_s":115.48,"text":"They do take a little performance hit in certain tasks,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":115.48,"end_s":121.6,"text":"which is why some specialty data center machines for applications like game servers and high volume trading","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.6,"end_s":127.32,"text":"can actually use desktop CPUs sometimes. But in general, it's much more important for servers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":127.32,"end_s":131.32,"text":"to have more cores rather than fewer faster ones.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":131.32,"end_s":135.2,"text":"Lower clock speeds also mean that data centers can save money on cooling","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":135.2,"end_s":139.92,"text":"since a core that isn't being pushed as hard won't output as much heat.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.92,"end_s":145.08,"text":"This idea of maximizing the efficiency or the performance per watt of a server","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.08,"end_s":148.72,"text":"is so important that we're now even seeing cloud services","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":148.72,"end_s":153.6,"text":"design their own chips that are optimized for their own workloads.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":153.6,"end_s":157.8,"text":"Amazon, for example, has their own server CPU called Graviton,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.8,"end_s":162.96,"text":"which is designed to be more power efficient than competing chips from Intel and AMD.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":162.96,"end_s":167.8,"text":"But what about the other pieces of our server puzzle, reliability and scalability?","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.8,"end_s":172.12,"text":"Well, the huge number of CPU cores definitely helps with those goals,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.12,"end_s":175.72,"text":"but if you thought that CPUs with over a hundred cores sounded wild,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":175.72,"end_s":178.84,"text":"you ain't seen nothing yet. Did you know that servers can be configured","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":178.84,"end_s":182.84,"text":"with as much RAM as you have of SSD storage","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":182.84,"end_s":186.82,"text":"in your home PC? Modern servers are frequently configured","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":186.82,"end_s":189.84,"text":"with multiple terabytes of memory,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.84,"end_s":195.44,"text":"but you'd be amazed how fast that can get eaten up. One technology that uses lots of CPU cores","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":195.44,"end_s":200.42,"text":"and RAM is virtualization. Virtualization allows a single server","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":200.42,"end_s":204.16,"text":"to be sliced up into multiple virtual servers,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":204.16,"end_s":208.56,"text":"each potentially running a completely different workload or operating system.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":208.56,"end_s":212.2,"text":"It's great for dynamically deploying your computing resources,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":212.2,"end_s":215.82,"text":"helping a data center scale its operations up and down,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":215.82,"end_s":221.7,"text":"depending on how many users need to access it. It also improves both reliability and security","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":1},{"start_s":221.7,"end_s":225.52,"text":"since virtual machines can be more easily managed and deployed.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":225.52,"end_s":230.7,"text":"But for smooth operation, every one of those virtual machines needs,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":230.7,"end_s":236.3,"text":"you guessed it, ample RAM. Another big driver of memory use is caching.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":236.3,"end_s":241.26,"text":"While solid state storage is certainly much faster than older mechanical hard drives,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":241.26,"end_s":246.94,"text":"it still pales in comparison to RAM. So if you were running a content delivery platform,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":246.94,"end_s":251.42,"text":"for example, it might be wise to take the biggest trending content","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":251.42,"end_s":255.38,"text":"and load that into a RAM cache to ensure that your users can load it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":255.38,"end_s":260.9,"text":"at lightning fast speeds. Registered dims, load reduced dims, and MCR dims","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":260.9,"end_s":266.38,"text":"are examples of technologies that help manufacturers pack more and more memory into servers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":266.38,"end_s":270.1,"text":"to help meet this need. But a copious amount of memory","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":270.1,"end_s":275.94,"text":"isn't enough to make a machine server grade. There's also an expectation of superior reliability.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":275.94,"end_s":280.06,"text":"That's where technologies like error correcting or ECC come into play.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":280.06,"end_s":283.1,"text":"ECC allows the server to monitor for data errors","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.1,"end_s":287.98,"text":"and correct them on the fly. And this same concept can be found in desktops,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.98,"end_s":292.66,"text":"but has traditionally been more common in the data center where data integrity is key.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":292.66,"end_s":296.54,"text":"After all, it probably doesn't matter too much if your Minesweeper game crashes,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.54,"end_s":300.38,"text":"but it matters a lot if an undetected error in a large data set","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.38,"end_s":303.74,"text":"bungs up some important scientific research.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.74,"end_s":308.26,"text":"Speaking of large data sets, many servers also need huge amounts of storage,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":308.26,"end_s":313.9,"text":"depending on how much data they need to work with. And it's not uncommon to see a one-you server.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":313.9,"end_s":318.54,"text":"That is a server that takes up just one unit of space in a standard rack","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":318.54,"end_s":322.18,"text":"with a petabyte or more of high-speed storage these days.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":322.18,"end_s":326.54,"text":"In a lot of cases, these machines are used to provide storage over the network","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.54,"end_s":332.7,"text":"to other more compute-focused machines that are packed with CPUs or, lately, especially GPUs.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":332.7,"end_s":335.74,"text":"To pack the drives in tighter, they often use drive form factors","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.74,"end_s":339.82,"text":"that differ from the M.2 drives that might be sitting in your home PC.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.82,"end_s":344.42,"text":"One such standard is called EDSFF, and it allows for higher power delivery,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":344.42,"end_s":349.3,"text":"better cooling, and greater capacity, allowing data centers to scale up their operations","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":349.3,"end_s":352.66,"text":"easily when they need to. There's that word again, scalability.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":352.66,"end_s":357.66,"text":"Of course, all of this hardware has to connect to a motherboard. And unlike home PC motherboards","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":357.66,"end_s":361.06,"text":"that tend to follow standard form factors like ATX,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.06,"end_s":366.74,"text":"server boards are often proprietary since it's much more common to buy a fully assembled server","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":366.74,"end_s":370.94,"text":"than it is to put one together with DIY off-the-shelf parts.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.94,"end_s":373.98,"text":"Now, if you look closely, you'll see some things you recognize,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":373.98,"end_s":378.62,"text":"like memory slots, PCIe expansion slots, and CPU sockets,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.62,"end_s":382.66,"text":"but they tend to be a little different or even oddly laid out.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.66,"end_s":387.46,"text":"For example, look at this motherboard. It effectively has 20 PCIe slots,","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":387.46,"end_s":391.18,"text":"but none of them are in the traditional slot form factor.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.18,"end_s":395.06,"text":"So to use them as slots, you would need to plug cables and risers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":395.06,"end_s":398.86,"text":"into these mini cool edge or MCIO connectors.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":398.86,"end_s":403.42,"text":"Pretty neat, right? I think this highlights that even though we've talked about some general differences","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":403.42,"end_s":407.62,"text":"between servers and desktops, many servers are as different from each other","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":407.62,"end_s":412.42,"text":"as they are from your gaming PC, depending on what they're intended to be used for.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.42,"end_s":416.02,"text":"We won't be able to get into all of that, but hopefully you have a little more insight","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":416.02,"end_s":419.54,"text":"into why cloud computing giants like Amazon and Google","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":419.54,"end_s":423.46,"text":"aren't just running a bunch of gaming PCs networks together in their data centers.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.46,"end_s":426.86,"text":"I will say, all of that RGB in one place would look pretty cool.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":426.86,"end_s":432.18,"text":"Thanks for watching guys, if you liked this video, maybe check out our other video on DDR5.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.18,"end_s":435.98,"text":"I don't know, there's nothing in the script. And don't forget to subscribe to Techquickie.","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"Whether it's a server or a gaming PC, every computer needs the same basic components. A central processing unit or CPU, working memory or RAM, some kind of storage device, a motherboard to connect everything together, and systems for power and cooling. The difference then is in the configuration of these components. And three of the big reasons that servers have different configurations from desktop PCs are that they need to be more power efficient, more reliable, and more scalable. Servers often live in data centers with hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of individual machines. So as you can imagine, space savings is a major consideration. That's why servers tend to use stacking rack-mountable cases that have similar general cooling flows as each other to make deployments more scalable. However, even more than the cost of the space that they take up, the cost of the power they consume has been a huge driver of server design in recent years. And keeping power consumption down is extremely important unless you want to overwhelm the nuclear plant next door. Now, one way to help with this is to use a higher quality power supply to reduce waste. But a better way is to use more efficient components in the first place so you just don't consume as much power. Let's start by talking about server CPUs. Instead of the two to 16 processing cores that you might find in a gaming CPU, server CPUs commonly have dozens or even hundreds of processing cores. Wow! But if you drill down into the spec sheet, you'll find that these cores are often running at lower clock speeds than you might be used to. This allows servers to handle a huge volume of simultaneous requests without consuming any more power than necessary. They do take a little performance hit in certain tasks, which is why some specialty data center machines for applications like game servers and high volume trading can actually use desktop CPUs sometimes. But in general, it's much more important for servers to have more cores rather than fewer faster ones. Lower clock speeds also mean that data centers can save money on cooling since a core that isn't being pushed as hard won't output as much heat. This idea of maximizing the efficiency or the performance per watt of a server is so important that we're now even seeing cloud services design their own chips that are optimized for their own workloads. Amazon, for example, has their own server CPU called Graviton, which is designed to be more power efficient than competing chips from Intel and AMD. But what about the other pieces of our server puzzle, reliability and scalability? Well, the huge number of CPU cores definitely helps with those goals, but if you thought that CPUs with over a hundred cores sounded wild, you ain't seen nothing yet. Did you know that servers can be configured with as much RAM as you have of SSD storage in your home PC? Modern servers are frequently configured with multiple terabytes of memory, but you'd be amazed how fast that can get eaten up. One technology that uses lots of CPU cores and RAM is virtualization. Virtualization allows a single server to be sliced up into multiple virtual servers, each potentially running a completely different workload or operating system. It's great for dynamically deploying your computing resources, helping a data center scale its operations up and down, depending on how many users need to access it. It also improves both reliability and security since virtual machines can be more easily managed and deployed. But for smooth operation, every one of those virtual machines needs, you guessed it, ample RAM. Another big driver of memory use is caching. While solid state storage is certainly much faster than older mechanical hard drives, it still pales in comparison to RAM. So if you were running a content delivery platform, for example, it might be wise to take the biggest trending content and load that into a RAM cache to ensure that your users can load it at lightning fast speeds. Registered dims, load reduced dims, and MCR dims are examples of technologies that help manufacturers pack more and more memory into servers to help meet this need. But a copious amount of memory isn't enough to make a machine server grade. There's also an expectation of superior reliability. That's where technologies like error correcting or ECC come into play. ECC allows the server to monitor for data errors and correct them on the fly. And this same concept can be found in desktops, but has traditionally been more common in the data center where data integrity is key. After all, it probably doesn't matter too much if your Minesweeper game crashes, but it matters a lot if an undetected error in a large data set bungs up some important scientific research. Speaking of large data sets, many servers also need huge amounts of storage, depending on how much data they need to work with. And it's not uncommon to see a one-you server. That is a server that takes up just one unit of space in a standard rack with a petabyte or more of high-speed storage these days. In a lot of cases, these machines are used to provide storage over the network to other more compute-focused machines that are packed with CPUs or, lately, especially GPUs. To pack the drives in tighter, they often use drive form factors that differ from the M.2 drives that might be sitting in your home PC. One such standard is called EDSFF, and it allows for higher power delivery, better cooling, and greater capacity, allowing data centers to scale up their operations easily when they need to. There's that word again, scalability. Of course, all of this hardware has to connect to a motherboard. And unlike home PC motherboards that tend to follow standard form factors like ATX, server boards are often proprietary since it's much more common to buy a fully assembled server than it is to put one together with DIY off-the-shelf parts. Now, if you look closely, you'll see some things you recognize, like memory slots, PCIe expansion slots, and CPU sockets, but they tend to be a little different or even oddly laid out. For example, look at this motherboard. It effectively has 20 PCIe slots, but none of them are in the traditional slot form factor. So to use them as slots, you would need to plug cables and risers into these mini cool edge or MCIO connectors. Pretty neat, right? I think this highlights that even though we've talked about some general differences between servers and desktops, many servers are as different from each other as they are from your gaming PC, depending on what they're intended to be used for. We won't be able to get into all of that, but hopefully you have a little more insight into why cloud computing giants like Amazon and Google aren't just running a bunch of gaming PCs networks together in their data centers. I will say, all of that RGB in one place would look pretty cool. Thanks for watching guys, if you liked this video, maybe check out our other video on DDR5. I don't know, there's nothing in the script. And don't forget to subscribe to Techquickie."}