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1.3.3 EFI and legacy-free concept
The EFI complements legacy-free concept of PCs.
system designs that eliminate certain hardware and firmware elements of the
original PC architecture while advancing the PC's stability and usability.
Specifically, we are talking about a set of I/O options that have been part of the
PC architecture for a very long time, for example parallel, serial and game port,
ISA slots or devices, floppy disk controller (FDC), PS/2® mouse, and keyboard.
BIOS interfaces require the OS loader to have a specific knowledge of the
workings of hardware devices. The EFI abstract concept makes it possible to
build code that works on a range of hardware devices without having explicit
knowledge of the specifics of these devices. This EFI feature allows a
replacement of legacy devices and adding new boot devices. The legacy devices
are replaced by USB devices in x450.
Tip: One key interface that is no longer supported is INT 13, disk I/O.
For more information about the EFI specification, see the following:
http://www.intel.com/technology/efi/index.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platform/firmware/EFI/default.asp
1.4 Intel Itanium 2 processor
The Itanium 2 processor used in the x450 (code named "Madison") uses a ZIF
socket design, although the socket is designed differently from the one on the
x440, for example. This small form factor is what permits the x450 to have up to
four processors in a 4U node.
Table 1-3 outlines some of the differences between the Itanium and Itanium 2
processors (both the "Madison" and the earlier "McKinley" processor):
Table 1-3 Itanium vs Itanium 2 processors
Feature
Processor core speed
L3 Cache
Frontside bus
Frontside bus bandwidth
Pipeline stages
IBM ^ xSeries 450 Planning and Installation Guide
10
Itanium
Itanium 2 "McKinley"
733 or 800 MHz
900 MHz or 1.0 GHz
2 or 4 MB
1.5 or 3 MB
266 MHz
400 MHz, 128 bit
2.1 GBps
6.4 GBps
10
8
Legacy-free
refers to PC
Itanium 2 "Madison"
1.3, 1.4 or 1.5 GHz
3, 4 or 6 MB
400 MHz, 128 bit
6.4 GBps
8
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