Comments on: Technical Details on the IBM HX5 Blade Server (UPDATED)

By: Blades Made Simple™ » Blog Archive » 4 Socket Blade Servers Density: Vendor Comparison (2011)

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 03:04:42 +0000

[...] an 2nd HX5 to create a 4 CPU offering. While I covered the technology back in March (check it out here) I’m looking at the 2 x HX5 combination as IBM’s 4 socket [...]

By: Kevin Houston

Kevin Houston — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:24:36 +0000

RE: the #ibm HX5 + MAX5 and 130W – right now it is not showing support, but I believe that support will come later this year. Hopefully one of the IBM'ers will be able to confirm. Thanks for the question and thanks for reading!

By: Anton

Anton — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:24:59 +0000

Hello, Kevin!

Will bundle of HX5 and MAX5 really works with 130W processors?

By: Proteus

Proteus — Sat, 08 May 2010 06:04:43 +0000

The 6500 series really aren't that interesting. With the high cost of vSphere, the 8 core 7500 is where the bulk of demand is going to be.
FSB is confirmed at 1066..978 is a misprint. Also note that like ALL the new IBM systems, these have the thermal capability to handle turbo mode, even at full utilization (unlike some competitiors). And as to Flexmem…there is quite a latency hit, as you'll see when..or if Dell publishes 2S benchmarks for the R810..

By: Chris N

Chris N — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:15:07 +0000

Thanks also for the Redbook link.

Interesting that all VLP memory for the HX5 blade is x8. No x4 typical of previous blades is listed. Thus 8GB DIMMs are 4Rx8 when 2Rx4 are available. Both are built with 2Gbit DRAM. Lower cost per DIMM perhaps to encourage buying more of them?

For the x3850 X5, only the 16GB DIMM offering is 4Rx4 (a necessity until 4Gbit-based DIMMs are available), while all smaller DIMMs are x8.

If the goal is more DIMMs/processor and more memory, will this platform (and other Boxboro platforms) support DIMMs with 4Gbit DRAM later this year or will Mill Brook BoB remain limited to 2Gbit DRAM?

By: David Watts

David Watts — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:56:09 +0000

Mike, I'll look into that and report back. Yes looking at Table 4-8, the Xeon E7540 has an SMI link speed of 6.4 GT/s and by that alone I would have expected a memory bus speed of 1066 MHz. The 978 MHz could be a mistake there. David.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:28:43 +0000

david,
do you know why HX5 doesn't support the full 1066Mhz memory speed that Intel's architecture allows. there is a proc listed w/ 6.4GT/s QPI, but it also says it runs at 978Mhz

By: mike

mike — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:14:39 +0000

according to the redbook, HX5 is not supported on BC E or the DC power version of HT. likely too much power draw

By: David Watts

David Watts — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:05:49 +0000

Thanks for the plug and kind words about the Redpaper, Kevin.

By: IBMTom

IBMTom — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:36:04 +0000

All blades work on all chassis (with very few exceptions)