Power7 Processor And Intelligent Energy; Comparison Of The Power7 And Power6 Processors - IBM BladeCenter PS700 Technical Overview And Introduction

2.2.7 POWER7 processor and intelligent energy

Energy consumption is an important area of focus for the design of the POWER7 processor
which includes intelligent energy features that help to optimize energy usage and
performance dynamically, so that the best possible balance is maintained. Intelligent energy
features (such as EnergyScale™) work with the BladeCenter Advanced Management Module
(AMM) and IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager™ to optimize processor speed
dynamically, based on thermal conditions and system use.

2.2.8 Comparison of the POWER7 and POWER6 processors

Table 2-2 shows comparable characteristics between the generations of POWER7 and
POWER6 processors.
Note: This shows the characteristics of the POWER7 processors in general, but not
necessarily as implemented in the POWER7 processor-based blade servers.
Table 2-2 Comparison of technology for the POWER7 processor and the prior generation
Feature
Technology
Die size
Maximum cores
Maximum SMT
threads per core
Maximum frequency
L2 Cache
L3 Cache
Memory support
I/O Bus
Enhanced Cache
Mode (TurboCore)
Sleep & Nap Mode
POWER7 POWER6+
45 nm 65 nm
2
567 mm 341 mm
8 2
4 threads 2 threads
4.14 GHz 5.0 GHz
256 KB per core 4 MB per core
4 MB of FLR-L3 cache 32 MB off-chip eDRAM
per core with each core ASIC
having access to the
full 32 MB of L3 cache,
on-chip eDRAM
DDR3 DDR2
Two GX+ One GX+
Yes No
Both Nap only
Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview
POWER6
65 nm
2 2
341 mm
2
2 threads
4.7 GHz
4 MB per core
32 MB off-chip eDRAM
ASIC
DDR2
One GX+
No
Nap only
45