Intel Itanium 2 Processor Onboard
The TX7 series employs the Itanium 2 processor, the second-generation processor from the Intel Itanium processor family with the latest 64-bit architecture. The performance of the Itaniums2 processor shows dramatic impovements over the first generation Itanium processor, through improved operating frequency, reduced latency and enlarged on-chip cache. In addition, the TX7 series can be upgraded to incorporate future Itanium processor families, making it extremely future-proof. The technical specifications of the Itaniums2 are: - 1 GHz/900 MHz clock
- 6.4 GB/s system bus
- 3 MB/1.5 MB on-chip L3 cache
- large-volume memory addressing capability
- simultaneous execution of 6 instructions
- stand-alone peak-performance 4.0/3.6 GFLOPS floating point arithmetic capability
System Architecture
In order to maximise the performance of the Itaniums2 processor, NEC has developed a high-performance chipset and crossbar switch that is based on supercomputer mainframe technology. In using these, the TX7 series not only demonstrates high performance, but also realises high scalability and high reliability. High Scalability: Up to four CPUs can be installed in a single cell. The TX7 systems connect these cells via a high-speed crossbar switch. The i9510 is an outstanding system that can be configured for up to 32 CPUs, and more than meets the needs of large-scale calculations. High Performance: The crossbar switch has a low latency as well as high data bandwidth. Whilst comprising cc-NUMA architecture (Cache Coherent Non-Uniform Memory Access), it employs a chipset and crossbar switch developed in-house by NEC and achieves near uniform high-speed memory access. In addition, the I/O sub-system employs the advanced PCI-X bus and supports high-speed input and output capability that will be able to meet future increases in high-speed I/O demand. High Reliability Each data bus has error detection and single bit error correction. In addition to the redundant power supply and fan structure, duplication of the service processor which controls and manages the server is also possible (i9000 series only). This achieves a high level reliability which is equal to that of a mainframe.
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