SCIENCE

High Performance SGI Rackable Half-Depth Server Shatters SPEC Performance Records While Easily Surpassing Competition; Delivers Highest Performance-Per-Watt in Class

SGI has announced that a single SGI Rackable C2005-TY6 server achieved a world record for performance-per-watt on the SPECpower_ssj2008 benchmark, an industry-standard measurement of energy efficiency of volume server class and multi-node class computers. C2005-TY6 server easily outperformed comparable systems from Dell, IBM and HP.

“Intel strives to design world-class server building blocks to help customers like SGI achieve world-record results.”

C2005-TY6 outperformed its nearest competitors in two important areas, including power at 100 percent load (watts), and the overall performance-per-watt metric (ssj_ops/watt). Complete SPECpower_ssj2008 results are posted at http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&div=bhiffeadec&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spec.org&esheet=6592090&lan=en-US&anchor=www.spec.org&index=2&md5=e6c045382d3b81b339bd5b431e16f867.

A single SGI Rackable half-depth C2005-TY6 server beat Dell, IBM and HP with the lowest power of only 226 watts at 100 percent load and the highest performance-per-watt of 3,077 ssj_ops/watt.

“C2005-TY6 server’s unprecedented energy efficiency directly translates into meaningful business benefits for data centers,” said Conor Malone, vice president of engineering at SGI. “The breakthrough SPECpower_ssj2008 results prove that SGI Rackable half-depth servers continue to lead in power and cooling efficiency by having the flexibility to incorporate best of breed components from partners like Intel.”

The tested C2005-TY6 server was powered by a total of two six-core Intel Xeon 5670 processors, 12 GB memory, one Intel 32 GB SLC flash drive, Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Server Enterprise Edition operating system, and ran six instances of IBM J9 Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

“We are delighted that SGI has chosen the Intel Server Board S5500WB for its Rackable system,” said Lisa Graff, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Platforms & Services Division at Intel. “Intel strives to design world-class server building blocks to help customers like SGI achieve world-record results.”

The C2005-TY6 half-depth rackmount server, which will be available in March 2011, has the following notable power efficiency features:

• Intel Server Board S5500WB optimized for performance-per-watt by incorporating spread-core processor/memory layout, high efficiency VR’s, comprehensive temperature monitoring, and extensive characterization and tuning across hardware and software;
• Flash-enabled technology that reduces overall power consumption up to a factor of eight compared to 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch HDDs;
• Support for low-voltage processors from Intel that run at the same clock rates as their higher-voltage counterparts but consume less energy;
• P-states and C-states that allow the CPU frequency and power to dynamically change based on the workload;
• Support by SGI Management Center which, on servers with Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager, provides power and thermal monitoring and policy based power management;
• CPUs and DIMMs that support active power management that allows for significant power savings at idle and moderate loads, but can run at peak frequency when needed;
• Unused memory channels that can be dynamically placed into a low power state;
• Option of disabling unused serial, USB and Ethernet ports.