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Hardware IBM Readies X4 Chipset for Intel "Tigerton"
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - April 11, 2007 2:41 AM

12 comment(s) - last by honeg.. on Apr 12 at 5:00 AM

IBM prepares its X4 chipset for up to 32 processor servers

IBM is set to introduce its X4 chipset for Intel’s upcoming Tigerton quad-core Xeon MP processors. Intel’s upcoming Tigerton features a new point-to-point connection between the processors and chipset. The Intel Caneland platform-based demonstration systems had four Tigerton processors installed.

IBM’s upcoming X4 chipset replaces the current X3 chipset and is scalable up to 32 processors across eight system boards for 128 cores in a single server system. Memory support is plentiful with up to 16 memory slots per system board. Memory modules in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB sizes are supported with the X4 chipset, providing a maximum of 512GB of system memory.

The X4 chipset will not support InfiniBand for supercomputing cluster use, however, expect dual Gigabit Ethernet ports on X4 systems. Also, expect the X4 to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet as an option.

Beyond Tigerton, Intel expects to converge Itanium and Xeon products towards the common CSI system bus. CSI replaces the current front-side bus and upcoming point-to-point bus protocols for greater efficiency.

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cuz

By medavid16 on 4/11/2007 8:47:16 AM , Rating: 1

we're not the target audience.

RE: cuz

By Zandros on 4/11/2007 9:18:14 AM , Rating: 5

Perhaps not, but I find it interesting anyway.

Keep up on reporting on high end server hardware. :)

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RE: cuz

By ObscureCaucasian on 4/11/2007 9:36:56 AM , Rating: 2

Well it makes sense to develop the platform, it makes it easy for the customer to buy a lot of chips.

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RE: cuz

By Mitch101 on 4/11/2007 9:56:19 AM , Rating: 2

Yup for Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Exchange it is.

Also could be a nice tech for companies doing more VM's than machines today.

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RE: cuz

By ToeCutter on 4/11/2007 11:32:52 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Also could be a nice tech for companies doing more VM's than machines today.

Except it'll take 2 years before VMware adds it to their dwindling HCL...

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RE: cuz

By honeg on 4/12/2007 5:00:02 AM , Rating: 2

Speak for yourself :-)

I've worked on a couple of systems that needed quad dual-core processors and a decent amount of RAM (32GB) in a single box. The only reasonably cheap option right now is Opteron 8*'s, so I'm all in favour of another cheap option. Cheap is relative, of course - $10-12k for a server is exactly posket money.

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This has ESX written all over it.

By JackBurton on 4/11/2007 10:13:03 AM , Rating: 2

Throw in some 128GB SSD drives, a butt load of memory with 128 cores, and you basically have a virtual datacenter in one machine using ESX!!

I love it!

RE: This has ESX written all over it.

By Phynaz on 4/11/2007 11:53:27 AM , Rating: 2

A datacenter with 128 cores?

You've never been in a datacenter, have you?

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RE: This has ESX written all over it.

By ToeCutter on 4/11/2007 12:21:22 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
You've never been in a datacenter, have you?

Considering large orgs (like CDW) are getting 8:1 return per core with ESX, this config would repesent a DC consisting of 1024 servers.

I think it would qualify as a datacenter ;-)

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yawn

By Samus on 4/11/07, Rating: 0

RE: yawn

By Anh Huynh on 4/11/2007 9:23:51 AM , Rating: 3

We can all dream of having a system with 128 processing cores and 512GB of ram, just to browse the internet...

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CSI

By Kougar on 4/11/2007 6:16:28 PM , Rating: 2

You forgot to mention Nehalem will also be migrating to the CSI bus... now that would be something no consumer can say won't be applicable to them. ;)