Introduction; System Features - Dell 4100 User Manual

Chapter 1

Introduction

D
® ®
ell PowerEdge 4100/180 and Dell PowerEdge
4100/200 systems are high-speed, upgradable PC servers
designed around the Intel
microprocessors. The PowerEdge 4100 systems provide
both Extended Industry-Standard Architecture (EISA)
and high-performance Peripheral Component Inter-
connect (PCI) expansion slots to allow for future
expansion of your system.
This chapter describes the major hardware and software
features of your computer, provides information about
the indicators and controls on the computer's front panel,
and discusses connecting external devices to the
computer.
S
ystem Features
Your computer offers the following major features:
•
One or two Pentium Pro microprocessors with an
internal operating frequency of 180 megahertz
(MHz) in the PowerEdge 4100/180 and 200 MHz in
the PowerEdge 4100/200. The external bus speeds of
the PowerEdge 4100/180 and PowerEdge 4100/200
are 60 MHz and 66 MHz (respectively).
NOTE: The microprocessor chips are installed in
zero insertion force (ZIF) sockets on the system board,
allowing you to upgrade to a faster, more powerful system
as your processing needs increase. Upgrade kits from
Dell contain the correct microprocessor version for
your PowerEdge system.
® ®
Pentium Pro family of
The Pentium Pro microprocessor features Dynamic
Execution, which combines three processing
techniques:
— Multiple branch prediction: The processor antic-
ipates jumps in the instruction flow and where
the next instruction can be found in memory.
— Data flow analysis: The processor determines
which instructions are ready for processing and
which are waiting for results from other instruc-
tions. The processor then schedules instruction
execution to minimize idle time.
— Speculative execution: The processor executes
instructions according to the optimized schedule
for maximum processor performance and
efficiency.
•
Cache memory (internal to the Pentium Pro module)
that provides 256 KB (PowerEdge 4100/180 sys-
tems) or 512 KB (PowerEdge 4100/200 systems) of
static random-access memory (SRAM). Cache mem-
ory enhances the speed of many microprocessor
operations by storing the most recently accessed
contents of system memory.
•
Support for symmetric multiprocessing by installing a
second microprocessor. Symmetric multiprocessing
greatly improves overall system performance by
dividing microprocessor operations between the two
independent microprocessors. To take advantage of
this feature, you must use an operating system that
supports multiprocessing, such as Microsoft
®
dows NT 3.51 or Novell
later versions).
NOTE: If you decide to upgrade your system by
installing a second microprocessor, you must order a
microprocessor upgrade kit from Dell. Not all ver-
sions of the Pentium Pro microprocessor will work
properly as a second microprocessor. The upgrade
®
Win-
® ®
NetWare 4.1 SMP (and
Introduction 1-1