Overview; The New Ibm® System X3950 M2 - IBM 71413SU - System x3950 M2 Reference

Overview

This paper introduces the new IBM System x3950 M2 and the previously announced System
x3850 M2, and provides you with detailed technical information about their major
subsystems.
Delivering an industry-leading, 64-bit framework for high-performance scalable computing,
the IBM System x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 are built on the power of the latest eX4
Architecture, which is the fourth generation of the IBM Enterprise X-Architecture® technology.
eX4 Architecture drives the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 to deliver the performance, availability,
expandability, and manageability required for the next generation of industry-standard
servers.
Figure 1 The IBM System x3850 M2 and IBM System x3950 M2
Both the x3850 M2 and x3950 M2 combine unmatched four-socket 64-bit performance, the
latest Intel® Xeon dual-core or quad-core processors, more flexible XpandOnDemand
modular scalability, and enhanced mission-critical availability to deliver an optimized
(enterprise or on-demand) solution for scale-up virtualization, database, mid-tier application
services or terminal services.
With its extensive chipset development experience, industry-leading performance, and
availability breakthroughs, IBM is uniquely positioned to propose a robust and powerful
server, offering innovation that delivers real business and IT results.
The x3850 M2 is a standalone server with four processor sockets up to 32 DIMM sockets.
The x3950 M2 also has four processor sockets and up to 32 DIMM sockets, but the x3950 M2
can also be connected to other x3950 M2 systems to form a single-image multinode complex.
With the addition of the ScaleXpander Option Kit, the x3850 M2 can be upgraded to the
x3950 M2 and can be connected to up to three other x3950 M2 to form a four-node complex
with 16 processor sockets. Installing the ScaleXpander Option Kit to an x3850 M2 makes it
effectively an x3950 M2.
Note: In this paper, when we refer to an x3950 M2, we mean either an x3950 M2 or an
x3850 M2 that has the ScaleXpander Option Kit installed.
The following configurations are possible:
One server: A single x3850 M2 or x3950 M2 server with two or four processors and up to
256 GB RAM installed
Two servers: A two-node complex comprised of two x3950 M2 servers, with four or eight
processors and up to 512 GB RAM installed
IBM System x3950 M2 and x3850 M2 Technical Introduction
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