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September 25, 2007
Article #18689
Volume 115, Issue 4
Section: Servers

 

The Sun Fire X4150 is an enterprise class server that is fast, expandable, energy efficient and easy to manage. It is ideal for a broad range of applications running Solaris, Linux, Windows or VMware.
 


 


Sun Fire X4150 and the Intel Architecture, Memory
Compared To AMD Opteron, Sun Fire X4100 M2 and Sun Fire X2200 M2

Find out more about the newly announced Sun Fire X4150 powered by the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series [18640] by reviewing what's new in Intel's core micro-architecture; how its architecture and memory compares to AMD Opteron; plus how does the Sun Fire X4150 compare to the Sun Fire X4100 M2 and Sun Fire X2200 M2.

What's new in Intel's core micro-architecture:

  • Wide Dynamic Execution: Up to 4 instructions per clock
  • Advanced Smart Cache: Improves sharing of cache memory between cores
  • Smart Memory Access: Data pre-fetching from main memory to cache memory improvements
  • Intelligent Power Capability: Manages power consumption of all core execution units
  • Digital Media Boost: Streaming SIMD (single instruction, multiple data) extensions executed in one clock cycle

Intel Xeon Architecture compared to AMD Opteron Architecture

Intel Xeon:

  • Scalable to 4-Sockets
  • Front Side Bus
  • Memory Bandwidth
  • Independent of Processor Population
  • I/O Bandwidth Independent of Processor Count
  • Excellent Integer Performance
  • Good Floating Point Performance
  • Longer Memory Latency
  • Lower CPU Power Consumption
  • Higher FB-DIMM Power Consumption

AMD Opteron:

  • Scalable to 8 Sockets
  • HyperTransport
  • Memory Scales with Additional Processors
  • I/O Throughput Can Scale with Additional Processors
  • Good Integer Performance
  • Excellent Floating Point Performance
  • Shorter Memory Latency
  • Higher CPU Power Consumption
  • Lower DDR2 DIMM Power Consumption

Difference between Intel Xeon's FB-DIMM memory and AMD Opteron's DDR2 DIMM

FB-DIMM:

  • Speed: 533/667 MHz
  • Memory Capacity: 4 FB-DIMM/Channel at full speed
  • Memory Scaling: Full population
  • Memory: MCH + AMB
  • Memory Bus Topology: Serial
  • Data Path: Individual Read and Write
  • Pin Count: 69
  • Power: 10.4 Watts/module

DDR2 DIMM:

  • Speed: 400/533/667 MHz
  • Memory Capacity: 2 DDR2 DIMM/Channel at full speed
  • Memory Scaling: Memory scales with CPU
  • Memory: Integrated in CPU Controller
  • Memory Bus Topology: Parallel
  • Data Path: Shared Read and Write
  • Pin Count: 240
  • Power: 4.4 Watts/module

Sun Fire X4150 compared to Sun Fire X4100 M2 and Sun Fire X2200 M2

Sun Fire X4150:

  • Processor Type: Intel Xeon
  • Processors: Dual Core, Quad Core
  • Memory Type: 667 MHz ECC FB-DIMM
  • Memory Slots: 16 DIMM slots
  • DIMMs per CPU: 2 to 16 DIMMs per system regardless of CPU count
  • Memory Type: 667 MHz ECC FB-DIMM
  • Disk Controller: SATA onboard SAS HBA add-on
  • Internal Disks: 8 2.5-inch SAS or 6 2.5-inch SATA (at end of CY2007)
  • RAID Support: RAID 0, 1, 1E, 10, 5, 5EE, 50, 6, 60, with SAS RAID HBA
  • I/O Slots: 3 PCI-Express
  • Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
  • USB Ports: 5 USB 2.0
  • Service Processor: Embedded LOM
  • Fans: Redundant, Hot-swappable
  • Power Supply: Redundant, Hot-swappable

Sun Fire X4100 M2:

  • Processor Type: AMD Opteron
  • Processors: Dual Core
  • Memory Type: 667 MHz ECC DDR2
  • Memory Slots: 8 memory slots
  • DIMMs per CPU: 2 to 4 DIMMs per CPU
  • Disk Controller: SAS onboard
  • Internal Disks: 4 2.5-inch SAS
  • RAID Support: RAID 0, 1 onboard
  • I/O Slots: 2 PCI-Express
  • Optical Drive: DVD-ROM/CD-RW
  • USB Ports: 3 USB 2.0
  • Service Processor: ILOM

Sun Fire X2200 M2:


 


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