ServerWorks pivotal in Intel-Rambus chipset tale

ntel and the biggest PC vendors in the world are relying on ServerWorks, a maker of chipsets, to help sell servers during 2001, so making the mysterious firm a key factor in the memory politics currently plaguing the industry.

A little while back, The Register published information about server roadmaps which showed that Intel is relying heavily on ServerWorks technology for its high end microprocessors next year.

ServerWorks, which was formerly known as Reliance, is a privately held company which, we understand, will float (IPO) on one of the US markets in the not too distant future.

You can see how it has quietly been signing deals with some major PC folk by turning to this page here.

Intel, Compaq, IBM, Dell, Acer, SuperMicro, Hewlett Packard, Fujitsu Siemens have all struck deals with ServerWorks, the most recent being the Big Blue deal. ServerWorks issued a press release on June 21st, which you can find on its Web site here. This shows how ServerWorks and Big Blue are collaborating to intro S/390, RS, and AS/400 technology to give its Netfinity (IBM server platform) and its "X-rated" architecture a push.

Cos the fact is, that in the multiprocessing sector about two CPUs, Rambus technology does not cut it. This is partly due to cost -- the amount of megabytes you stuff into servers would prohibit RIMM solutions.

ServerWorks is enabling double data rate (DDR) memory in 184 pin configurations for the server market and so far there is little sign that the company has signed on the dotted line with Rambus to license this technology. Information on ServerWorks plans for DDR is scant -- a mere few lines show that's what it's doing, but how it's doing it is a different question altogether.

Now we shall have to just wait and see whether the Rambus move to shelter DDR memory suppliers under its wing will include ServerWorks, a key partner to Intel et al, or whether Intel, aided and abetted by various Dramurai and customers, will seek to protect its lucrative server end of the market by using other ways and means.

Meanwhile, for US lawyers who read The Reg, here is Rambus' revised SEC filing for its deal with Intel.

We can't make head or tail of it, being laymen, but if any of you can, please let us know. The ServerWorks saga is going to run and run.. ®

Intel, Rambus try to control damage

Intel delays chipset as Rambus falls more
update As expected, Intel delays the new 820 chipset, and the chipmaker says it is working with PC manufacturers to quickly resolve the problem.

Via gaining clients in wake of Intel-Rambus delay
IBM will announce tomorrow that it is using chipsets from Via for three new systems in the wake of the delay of Intel's 820 chipset.

previous coverage
Intel to delay new chipset as Rambus reels
update Intel cancels a planned Monday unveiling of a new chipset that would have enabled the first use of next-generation Rambus memory in PCs, sources say.

Costly new Rambus problem stings PC makers
A major problem involving Rambus memory technology could delay for months computers that were scheduled to debut Monday--the problem could force PC makers to throw away critical parts of new high-end computers or face the prospect of shipping potentially faulty machines.

Intel's New Pentium® III Processors Bring Top Performance And Optimal Battery Life To Mobile PCs

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 25, 2000 - Intel Corporation today introduced new mobile Pentium® III processors with Intel® SpeedStep™ technology that bring higher performance and optimum battery life to mobile PCs. The world's leading PC manufacturers are introducing full size as well as "thin and light" notebooks based on the new Intel processors, delivering as much as five to six hours of battery life depending on system configuration.

Intel SpeedStep technology is the industry's first dynamic frequency and voltage scaling technology, automatically detecting whether the user is on AC power or battery power to deliver the optimum balance between performance and battery life. The new mobile Pentium III processor 850 MHz featuring Intel SpeedStep technology runs at 1.65 volts in Maximum Performance Mode and automatically drops to 1.35 volts and 700 MHz in Battery Optimized Mode. The mobile Pentium III processor 800 MHz with Intel SpeedStep technology runs at 1.65 volts in Maximum Performance Mode and automatically drops to 1.35 volts and 650 MHz in Battery Optimized Mode. Both consume less than two watts of power to enable longer battery life.

The company also introduced a mobile Intel® Celeron™ processor at 700 MHz, the top-performing processor for value mobile PCs. All three processors are available immediately.

"The world's leading PC manufacturers are using Intel mobile technology to provide users with the best combination of high performance and battery life for today's advanced PC and Internet software," said Don MacDonald, marketing director at Intel's Mobile Platforms Group. "Intel SpeedStep technology is helping PC makers deliver near desktop-equivalent performance in smaller, lighter mobile PCs that run longer."

The new processors also take advantage of Intel's QuickStart technology, which automatically places the processor in a power-saving mode of below one-half watt when full performance is not required -- such as between key strokes -- and instantly returns to full performance when needed.

Product Maximum Performance Mode Battery Optimized Mode Pricing(qty 1,000) Average Power** Operating Voltage Mobile Intel® Pentium® III Processor featuring Intel SpeedStep™ technology 850 MHz 850 MHz 700 MHz $722 <2> 1.35 volts in Battery Optimized Mode Mobile Intel® Pentium® III Processor featuring Intel SpeedStep™ technology 800 MHz 800 MHz 650MHz $508 <2> 1.35 volts in Battery Optimized Mode Product Speed Pricing(qty 1,000) Average Power** Operating Voltage Mobile Intel® Celeron™ Processor 700 MHz 700MHz $181 <3> 1.6 volts Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Round-up: Dual-core servers

Dual-core processors deliver many benefits, including much-improved performance per watt, over single-core designs. We examine three servers from the leading vendors to see what this technology can do for your business.

Multi-core technology is having a big impact in the datacentre, with dual-core servers, in particular, now commonplace. Organisations are reaping a number of significant benefits, performance foremost among them. As the name implies, you get two processors on each dual-core chip, effectively doubling the amount of processing the host server can cope with; there are four cores on the latest quad-core chips. Add in other recent technological advances such as bigger cache sizes, plus faster memory and bus speeds, and the latest multi-cores can provide truly staggering increases in computing power. This power can be used to full advantage for consolidation and virtualisation projects, as well as for high-performance clustering and grid computing applications.

A less publicised, but equally important, benefit of multi-core technology is the reduced amount of electricity that processors need, with vendors vying to deliver the best performance-per-watt ratio. That, in turn means lower operating costs -- not to mention helping to save the planet. These benefits are further amplified by simply being able to do more with less. For example, just by upgrading to dual-core you could halve your current number of servers, and still do the same amount of work -- if not more.

In addition to new processors, a lot more has been happening in the server market in terms of storage, networking and manageability, making it very difficult to test and compare like for like. All the more so given that servers come in a range of shapes and sizes -- from free-standing towers, through rack-mount devices to highly space-efficient blade servers.

The aim of this group test, therefore, is to not try and attempt a direct comparison, but to provide a snapshot of the breadth of the most popular industry-standard dual-core servers currently available. More specifically, we've gathered together three two-way dual-core servers designed to be used by enterprises for general file sharing, as front-end Web servers and more specialised hosting duties.

We've chosen one specific model each from market leaders Dell, HP and IBM, although it's worth pointing out that the configurations are far from unique and you'll find similar products from all three vendors, and others too. All support both Intel and AMD processors and all offer a range of freestanding, rack-mount and blade implementations.

Bear that in mind, and hopefully this round-up will provide a good insight as to what's currently available and will help you investigate further the benefits that dual core and, in due course, quad core can provide to your business.

Dell PowerEdge 1950

Alan Stevens, ZDNet UK

13 April 2007 12:22 PM

Tags: dell, poweredge 1950, server, multi-core, dual-core, rack-mount server, xeon, dual core

With computing power to burn, the PowerEdge 1950 is ideal where high performance is required, such as clustering and Web front-end duties. However, the ramped format does make life more difficult when it comes to database hosting and other backend deployments.

A two-way SMP server designed to accommodate Intel dual-core Xeon processors, the PowerEdge 1950 sits at the top of Dell's 1U rack-mount range. It's not a particularly expandable solution -- there simply isn't room for lots of adaptors or disks -- but that hasn't stopped Dell's designers cramming a lot in to create a server that can be used for a variety of purposes.

The PE 1950 is very solid and well built. No special tools are needed to install or service it, and the whole of the top lifts off for access. A sliding rail kit can be supplied as an optional extra and there's a lockable front bezel to prevent unauthorised tampering and stop the server being switched off accidentally. You can also specify a second, redundant, power supply if required.

The Intel motherboard takes up only a fraction of the space inside the chassis, with two prominent sockets for the 64-bit Xeon processors. The review system came with Woodcrest chips fitted (now referred to as the Xeon 5000 and 5100 series), which are both faster and more energy-efficient than earlier Intel dual-core designs. However, the amount of power you'll have on tap will depend on the processors chosen, as will the price you'll have to pay.

Dual-core prices continue to fall as new designs are introduced and quad-core products are released. Our review sample, for example, had a pair of mid-range Xeon 5140 chips, clocked at 2.33GHz with a 1,333MHz front side bus (FSB). You can also specify the much faster (3GHz) 5160 chips. At the other end of the scale are the Xeon 5050 processors, also clocked at 3GHz but with a 667MHz FSB. Dell has also recently added quad-core Xeons as an option.

Of course you could start with one processor and add another later as needed, but with such a huge range of options and prices it's worth getting some expert advice. A low-cost configuration with one processor, for example, will probably be more than adequate for basic file and print sharing, but processor performance can have a big impact when it comes to clustering and application hosting. It's also worth bearing in mind that processors need to be matched, and if you don't order what you want up front you could encounter difficulties when upgrading later on. This perhaps explains why very few two-way purchases are ever beefed up with a second processor.

Memory can also have a big effect, both on your wallet and what you can do with the server. There are eight DIMM sockets on the PE 1950, which can accommodate up to 32GB of DDR2, fully buffered, DRAM with optional memory sparing and mirroring capabilities for those looking for maximum reliability. You can start with as little as 256MB, but ours had a more reasonable 4GB -- more than enough for file sharing and a decent amount if you're hosting an intranet server or a small company e-mail system.

There are yet more options when it comes to storage, starting with a choice between standard 3.5-inch internal hard disks or small 2.5-inch notebook-format drives. With 3.5-inch drives the limit is just two, using either Serial ATA (SATA) or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) connectivity. The SATA disks can hold up to 750GB each, while the biggest SAS drive is limited to 300GB. If you opt for smaller 2.5-inch drives, SAS is your only choice, at a mere 73GB per disk; however, you can cram four 2.5-inch disks into the case, as on our review system.

Our review server also came with a basic integrated RAID controller, although more advanced plug-in RAID adaptors are optionally available. You can also specify a TCP offload engine (TOE) to be enabled as an option on the integrated Gigabit Ethernet network interface, which would be valuable when connecting the server to an iSCSI SAN.

Further expansion is via plug-in adaptors: riser cards provide either two x8 lane PCI-Express slots or a pair of 64-bit 133MHz PCI-X connectors.

On the software front, Dell will factory-install Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10. Finally, you get the usual integrated remote management controller plus additional out-of-band management options.

Reviews > Hardware > Desktops

Benchmarks: Intel Core i7 (Nehalem)

Rupert Goodwins and Kai Schmerer, ZDNet Germany

10 November 2008 04:24 PM

Tags: intel, nehalem, core i7, quad core, cpu, benchmarks, test, process

Intel's new Nehalem architecture features an integrated memory controller and runs two threads per CPU core. Our extensive benchmark tests reveal how well the new quad-core processors perform in practice.

Five years after AMD, Intel has produced its first CPU with an integrated memory controller. The AMD design was ahead of the game in a number of areas, and market leader Intel has integrated ideas from its competitor into the new Nehalem architecture. Until now, Intel has manufactured its quad-core processors from two dual-core dies. AMD always maintained that there was only one company that could build real quad cores — a distinction that Intel pooh-poohed. Now even that distinction has been lost: Nehalem (Core i7) CPUs consist of a single chip.

But that's not the end of the story. AMD processors communicate between themselves and with peripherals using AMD's Hypertransport, a point-to-point switched interconnect that maintains high bandwidth through ad-hoc independent channels. That technology contrasts with Intel's approach of having chips use the frontside bus to address not only memory but also to connect to other system components, sharing that channel between devices. That's no real disadvantage with single-core systems, and Intel has maintained performance in dual-core and quad-core systems by using large amounts of cache.

However, this old-fashioned way of communicating is a bottleneck for servers with multiple sockets. In the long term, even the 64MB on-chip cache with snoop filtering that Intel offers in its Xeon 7300 chipset or the 16MB Level 3 cache recently introduced into the six-core Dunnington could not help the chip giant remain competitive with AMD in the server field.

Intel's answer is to provide the Nehalem architecture with a technology called Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) that is comparable with Hypertransport. QPI is in the Nehalem desktop variants, codenamed Bloomfield, that are available later this month. The server variant, Gainestown, for two-socket systems is to follow in the first quarter of 2009, according to Intel boss Paul Otellini. Intel plans on introducing Nehalem chips for multi-processor systems in the second half of 2009, and QPI will also be part of Tukwila, the next generation Itanium processor, due at the end of this year.

Nehalem features, test setup & power consumption

Intel has also cribbed a few virtualisation ideas from AMD for the Nehalem architecture. With the introduction of the Barcelona processor, AMD offered Rapid Virtualisation Indexing (RVI) to allow virtual machines direct memory access. Virtualisation specialist VMware enthusiastically backed the AMD technology. The equivalent technology in Intel's Nehalem is called Extended Page Table (EPT).

On top of the ideas borrowed from AMD, Nehalem chips offer a number of additional features. For example, the four processor cores can work on two threads at the same time, a refinement of the P4's well-known Hyperthreading architecture. As well as the four physical arithmetic and logic units, a further four logic units are also available.

Unlike the AMD equivalent chips, which only support dual-channel DDR2/1066 memory, the Core i7 processors, officially available from 17 November, offer three DDR3/1066 channels. Thus the chips have a theoretical memory bandwidth of 25.5GB/s, compared with the AMD chips' maximum of 16GB/s. Individual Nehalem processors are differentiated by the speed of the QPI interface. On the top model — the Core i7 Extreme 965 — QPI runs at 3.2GHz, but only reaches 2.4GHz on the smaller models.

Memory
According to Intel, the new Nehalem processors are specified up to a memory speed of DDR3/1066, while the current Core 2 architecture can be operated with DDR3/1600 memory. But according to the benchmark tool Everest 4.60, the internal memory controller supports up to 1333MHz. It could be that the system would not work stably in all situations at that frequency, so Intel opted for the more conservative specification. For optimal performance no more than three memory modules should be used. If four DIMMs are used, memory performance falls because the important memory parameter Command Rate can only handle two wait states.

Nehalem processors offer a built-in overclocking feature called Turbo Mode. If a piece of software fails to make full demands on all the cores, the chip's internal logic ensures that calculations in the cores that are in use operate at a higher clock speed. Last but not least, the Nehalem processors come equipped with SSE4.2, a command set extension that might be particularly useful for accelerating processing of string variables in search engines. Programs such as browsers, email clients and text processing programs could also benefit from the faster processing offered by SSE4.2.

Power consumption
In terms of power consumption, the system with the Nehalem Core i7 965 Extreme processor core ranks about the same as Intel's previous best-performing chip, the Core 2 Extreme QX9775, although the Nehalem processor, with 731 million transistors, clearly has fewer electronic circuits than the QX9775 with 820 million. Because hyperthreading technology makes more intensive use of the arithmetic units than with the single threading cores, they take the same power overall as the more complex earlier designs despite having fewer transistors.

Power consumption (Watts): shorter bars are better.

Reviews > Hardware

HP ProLiant ML370 G5

Alan Stevens, ZDNet UK

13 April 2007 12:22 PM

Tags: server, multi-core, dual-core, rack-mount server, hp, proliant ml370 g5, specify, xeon

It can handle a wide range of backend business applications, but HP's Proliant ML370 G5 is over-specified for organisations with more modest requirements.

The first thing you notice about the HP ProLiant ML370 G5 is its size. It's massive, with room for not just the latest dual-core Xeon processors but enough memory, storage and other options to suit a wide range of applications. Because it's very solidly built, the huge desk-side tower housing the ML370 is extremely heavy, requiring two people to lift it. It can also be rack mounted if required, although it ends up 5U high and the rack would need to be well anchored to prevent it tipping -- especially if you choose any of the optional extras. Our review model, for example, came with a redundant second power supply and an additional bank of hot-swap fans. You can also add a lot of storage, making for a very heavy and, at times, quite noisy system.

Still, all that bulk means plenty of space to configure the server to your exact requirements, starting with processors. As with the Dell PowerEdge1950, HP now supports the latest Intel dual-core Xeon "Woodcrest" chips, and our review system came with a single Xeon 5140 clocked at 2.33MHz with a 1333MHz frontside bus (FSB). However, you can choose from a variety of Xeon 5000 and 5100-series chips and fit up to two on the Intel motherboard to suit a wide range of applications.

Quad-core chips are also available for the ML370 G5. Note, though, that as on the Dell PowerEdge 1950, the faster processors can push the price up significantly so it's worth making sure that any performance gains will actually be exploited and that the rest of the configuration is up to the job.

Similar comments apply when it comes to memory: specifying more than you need will be costly and pointless unless you expect demand to grow in the future. Our review server came with 2GB, which is a good starting point; fully buffered DDR2 DRAM is used throughout, and there's support for ECC, online sparing and memory mirroring for maximum availability. You can also specify an optional second memory board, taking the maximum RAM capacity up to 64GB. This is double the amount that the 1U PowerEdge 1950 can handle, and is great for data-intensive database servers.

The massive tower chassis provides plenty of room for storage. There are eight 2.5-inch hot-swap drive bays on the review machine, but these only take up half of the available space set. Another set can also be configured with Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), which is the preferred technology here, HP having recently announced its intention to standardise on 2.5-inch SAS disks across the ProLiant family. An integrated RAID controller comes as standard, while a variety of others can be specified to fit into the two PCI-X and six free PCI Express expansion slots, plus a huge number of external storage options.

For this review, HP provided a pair of 36GB 10,000rpm drives, but 72GB and 146GB disks are also available, giving a maximum internal capacity of over 2TB, depending on the level of RAID protection configured. SATA disks can also be specified, although 60GB drives are the only option in this case. However, on this kind of server, most buyers will opt for SAS.

A Gigabit Ethernet server adaptor with built-in TCP offload engine is integrated onto the motherboard, and this could be used for connecting to an iSCSI SAN. The ML370 G5 server also gets a new integrated Lights-Out (iLO) remote management processor, adding virtual KVM and power management facilities that enable the ProLiant server to be controlled remotely via a Web browser. Remote management, of course, is also possible using a variety of tools, some of which are included as standard, with others being optional extras.

Finally, the HP hardware is fully certified for all the leading Windows, Linux and Unix operating system implementations. These can also be preinstalled along with selected applications configured to customer specifications, although the range and cost of such services is likely to differ depending on the reseller or system integrator involved.

We were very impressed with what the new ML370 G5 has to offer. It's perhaps a little over the top for basic file and print sharing, but as a database server or as an ERP platform in a larger company it's got everything you might need, and then some