News

New Intel Xeon E5 to offer ultra-dense high speed compute solutions

The Socket 2011 ‘Sandy Bridge EP’ Intel Xeon E5 processors are fast, with 8 cores, 20 MB L3 cache, and plenty of memory and I/O resources to boot. They also inherit a large installed base of previous generation Xeons across the whole range of workstations and servers, from mini blades to supercomputers.

However, for the evaluation of high performance computing project platforms, especially medium to large supercomputers, the power and the density achievable play a big role too. We can’t do much about the power here – the larger 416 mm2 dies required to fit all the features do take their toll, with the fastest server part, the E5-2690, spec’ed at 135W TDP at 2.9 GHz plus Turbo, of course.

The density can be worked on, though – just figure out how to squeeze four memory channels as well as all those QPI and PCIe v3 lanes coming out of each CPU to the smallest possible dual socket board layout, then engineer the cooling and power feed, not to mention the interconnect between the boards, to squeeze many dozens of those into each 42U or similarly tall compute rack.

A small, half width 6.4 inch by 17.7 inch board contains it all – two CPUs with full bandwidth memory, three full x16 PCIe v3 slots, I/O riser connections for storage, as well as a combination of dual GigE plus Connect-X Infiniband QDR (40 Gbps) or FDR (56 Gbps) high speed interconnect. Quite impressive, isn’t it?

Now, two of these boards can easily fit into one 1U rackmount server chasis, and of course, depending how much space you need for other hardware, up to 40 of course could fit into a standard 42U rack. So, up to 80 high speed dual CPU servers, each with ~360 GFLOPs dual precision FP peak performance and up to 256 GB ECC RAM, in just one rack – or nearly 30 TFLOPs single rack cluster if you like it counted that way. Do keep in mind that, with at least 400W per node, such cluster would also need a good 30 kW of power at the peak usage… but at least you can pack them tight.

Source: Vr-Zone.com

Peter Donnell

As a child still in my 30's (but not for long), I spend my day combining my love of music and movies with a life-long passion for gaming, from arcade classics and retro consoles to the latest high-end PC and console games. So it's no wonder I write about tech and test the latest hardware while I enjoy my hobbies!

Disqus Comments Loading...

Recent Posts

Sanyun SW208 3″ Active Bluetooth 5.0 Bookshelf Speakers

【SMALL HIFI BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS】SW-208 is a small bookshelf speaker with HiFi sound quality. It adopts…

5 seconds ago

PHILIPS 275V8LA – 27 Inch QHD Monitor

The Philips VA LED display uses an advanced multi-domain vertical alignment technology that gives you…

1 min ago

YASHE Mini Fridge

Multi-Functional Skincare Fridges: Yashe fridge keeps food, drinks, and other items at optimal temperatures, and…

6 mins ago

HONOR 90 Lite Smartphone 5G

【100MP Ultra Camera】The HONOR 90 Lite features a 100MP Main Camera with a f/1.9 aperture,…

9 mins ago

AOC U34E2M – 34″ QHD Monitor

With 3440 x 1440 resolution, Wide Quad HD (WQHD) offers superior picture quality and crisp…

10 mins ago

Devoko Electric Standing Desk

🎮【Leading Stability and Durability】We use 60mm wide industrial grade alloy columns, reliable connection with 15mm…

11 mins ago