Tushar Katarki's Weblog

Comparison of the new Nehalem servers from Sun

Tuesday Apr 14, 2009

I thought it would be apt on this day to do a side-by-side comparison of all the blades and servers that we are announcing today. Initially I had thought I would do a metaphoric comparison to aircraft and thought it will be fun. But some other day maybe. Below is all I have been able to do so far. I hope it is useful and not that boring. Also contributing to this blog is Marc Shelley.

I start in the 1^st table a comparison of the rack mount servers.
The 2nd table further down shows the blades comparisons.

Features	Sun Fire X2270	Sun Fire X4170	Sun Fire X4270	Sun Fire X4275
	Cost and performance Optimized for Web and HPC	Versatile Server for Enterprise, Web, Telco	Virtualization King	Compute and Storage Server
Chassis Enclosure	1RU	1RU (Jake)	2RU (Elwood)	2RU (Hyde)
Processor Architecture	1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series	1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series	1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series	1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series
Processor Type	Quad-Core with two Hyper Threads per core	Quad-Core with two Hyper Threads per core	Quad-Core with two Hyper Threads per core	Quad-Core with two Hyper Threads per core
Processor Speed	2.00 GHz to 2.93 GHz	2.26GHz to 2.93GHz	2.26 GHz to 2.93 GHz	2.26 GHz to 2.93 GHz
Level 1/2/3 Cache	32KB(I) + 32KB (D) per core/256KB per core/Up to 8MB shared	32KB(I) + 32KB (D) per core/256KB per core/Up to 8MB shared	32KB(I) + 32KB (D) per core/256KB per core/Up to 8MB shared	32KB(I) + 32KB (D) per core/256KB per core/Up to 8MB shared
CPU Interconnect	Quick Path Interconnect (QPI)	Quick Path Interconnect (QPI)	Quick Path Interconnect (QPI)	Quick Path Interconnect (QPI)
Memory Controller	Integrated Memory Controller	Integrated Memory Controller	Integrated Memory Controller	Integrated Memory Controller
Memory Type	DDR3 with 800MHz/1066MHz/1333MHz	DDR3 with 800MHz/1066MH /1333MHz	DDR3 with 800MHz/1066MHz/1333MHz	DDR3 with 800MHz/1066MHz/1333MHz
DIMM Slots	12	18	18	18
Max Memory	96 GB (with 8 GB DIMMs)	144 GB (with 8 GB DIMMs)	144 GB (with 8GB DIMMs)	144 GB (with 8GB DIMMs)
Max Memory Bandwidth	64 GB/s	64 GB/s	64 GB/s	64 GB/s
Internal Disk	4x 3.5" drive bays SATA supported at RR; SSD in near future	8x 2.5" drive bay; SAS and SSD supported at RR; SATA in near future	16x 2.5" disk bays with SAS, SSD and SATA HDD (near future)	12x 3.5" disk bays with SAS, SSD and SATA HDD
Max Disk Capacity	2 TB SATA	1.2 TB SAS (2.4 TB SAS soon)	2.3 TB SAS (4.8 TB soon)	5.4 TB SAS or 12 TB SATA
On-board Flash	Flash Modules and Solid State Drives enabled	Solid State Drives	Solid State Drives	Solid State Drives
Onboard RAID	SW RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 for SATA (Windows only)	None	None	None
Add-on RAID	None	RAID 0, 1, 10, 1E, 5, 50, 5EE, 6, 60 with SAS RAID HBA	RAID 00, 1, 10, 1E, 5, 50, 5EE, 6, 60 with SAS RAID HBA	RAID 0, 1, 10, 1E, 5, 50, 5EE, 6, 60 with SAS RAID HBA
Removable Media	None	DVD+/-RW	DVD+/-RW	None
Onboard GigE	2 GigE	4 GigE (Intel 82575EB controller)	4 GigE	4 GigE
PCI-Express	1x PCIe 2.0	3x PCIe 2.0	6x PCI-Express 2.0	6x PCI-Express 2.0
Total Max PCIe Bandwidth (bi-directional)	8 GB/s	16 GB/s	16 GB/s or 128 Gb/s	16 GB/s or 128 Gb/s
Service Processor	Integrated LOM	Integrated LOM	Integrated LOM	Integrated LOM
Redundant, Hot-Swap PSU	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Redundant, Hot-Swap Fans	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Depth	25 in. 633.7 mm	27.0 in. 685.8mm	27.0 inches/685.8 mm	30 in. / 762 mm

Features	Sun Blade X6270 server module	Sun Blade X6275 server module
	Maximum overall capacity and scale for Enterprise Virtualization	Dense Compute node for HPC and Web
Max processors per server module	2 Intel Quad-core Xeon Processor 5500 series	4 Intel Quad-core Xeon Processor 5500 Series Note: Sun Blade X6275 server module has 2 compute nodes, each compute node contains 2 Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Processors.
Max cores per server module	8	8 cores per compute node, for a total of 16 cores per X6275 server module
Processor Models / Speed	Quad-Core: X5570 (2.93 GHz) - 95W X5560 (2.8 GHz) - 95W E5540 (2.53 GHz) - 80W L5520 (2.26 GHz) - 60W E5520 (2.26 GHz) - 80W	Quad-Core: X5570 (2.93 GHz) - 95W X5560 (2.8 GHz) - 95W E5540 (2.53 GHz) - 80W L5520 (2.26 GHz) - 60W E5520 (2.26 GHz) - 80W
Processor to NorthBridge Connection	QuickPath Interconnect (up to 25.6GB/s (6.4GT/s) per QPI link)	QuickPath Interconnect (up to 25.6GB/s (6.4GT/s) per QPI link)
Max memory	18 DDR3 DIMM slots: Up to 72GB (4GB DIMMs) Up to 144GB when 8GB DIMMs are available	12 DDR3 DIMM slots per compute node, for a total of 24 DDR3 DIMM slots per X6275 server module: Up to 48GB per compute node, for a total of 96GB per server module (4GB DIMMs) . Up to 96GB per compute node, 192GB total per X6275 server module when 8GB DIMMs are available.
Location of Memory Controller	Memory controller is integrated on the processor die	Memory controller is integrated on the processor die
Memory type	DDR3 ECC registered DIMMs (1066 MHz, 1333 MHz)	DDR3 ECC registered DIMMs (1066 MHz, 1333 MHz)
Sun Flash Module	No	Yes
Internal Drives	Up to four SAS HDDs or four SATA SSDs (2.5-inch) hot-plug / hot-swap (Marlin brackets) Note: SATA HDDs targeted at post RR. SAS HDDs require a REM. SATA HDDs and SATA SSDs require a REM only if hardware RAID support is required.	No
PCIe 2.0	Yes	Yes
On-board QDR IB HCA	No	Two configurations – initial configuration will include 1 on-board QDR IB HCA (per compute node). The 2^nd configuration (future) will not have the on-board QDR IB HCA.
Support for Sun Blade(TM) 6048 InfiniBand QDR Switched Network Express Module	Yes, but requires the DDR InfiniBand FEM to be installed in the blade DDR IB FEM P/N (X)4239A	Yes
System management paths	Dedicated management 100BaseT connections via CMM, server module (front) serial access port	Dedicated management 100BaseT connections via CMM, server module (front) serial access port
Server Module Dimensions	Height = 12.87 in (327mm) Width = 1.7in (44 mm) Depth = 20.16 in (512 mm)	Height = 12.87 in (327mm) Width = 1.7in (44 mm) Depth = 20.16 in (512 mm)