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Trusted Platform Module
(TPM)
Power supplies
2.4 Comparing x3950 M2 to x3950
The x3950 M2 has the ability to scale to more than four processor sockets similar
to its predecessors, the System x3950 and the xSeries 460. It has twice the
number of memory slots (from 16 to 32), and benefits from the increased number
of supported processor cores (from 8 to 24 cores), and increased front-side bus
bandwidth (from 667 MHz to 1066 MHz). It also derives benefits from a
dedicated front-side bus for each multi-core processors as compared to the
x3950 and x460 which used a shared front-side bus for each pair of processor
sockets.
For multinode configurations, the x3950 M2 scales to a four-node configuration
with potentially more cores (up to 96 cores) than the maximum eight nodes
possible with the x3950 (at most 64 cores).
The Hurricane 4 chipset also adds improved bandwidth for its three scalability
ports and has increased memory throughput with eight high speed memory
buffer chips. Furthermore, the x3950 M2 has support for more I/O slots from
previously having six PCI-X slots to seven PCIe slots.
The onboard LSI 1078 RAID controller and the optional ServeRAID MR10k
installed in a dedicated PCIe x8 slot have significantly improved storage
subsystem bandwidth compared to the x3950's Adaptec ServeRAID 8i RAID
controller which shared a slower common PCI-X 66 MHz bus to the Southbridge
with the onboard Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet controllers. The Hurricane 4 has a
dedicated Enterprise Southbridge Interface (ESI) for the dual port onboard PCIe
x4 Broadcom 5709C controllers, RSA II, Video, USB 2.0 and Serial interfaces.
The x3950 M2 also has an onboard 4x SAS port which can be used in
conjunction with the ServeRAID MR10k for additional disk drive expansion (for
example, using one or more EXP3000 storage enclosures) not previously
possible with the x3950.
Table 2-2 on page 63 compares the major differences between the x3950 M2
and the x3950.
62
Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2
System x3850 server
None
One or two 1300 W power
supplies, depending on
model
System x3850 M2 server
TPM with TCG V1.2
compliance
Two 1440 W power
supplies
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