SGI® Altix? 3000

[Random Variable]

very large-scale Itanium 2 Linux server

For technical users seeking to achieve breakthrough performance with open-source computing, the SGI Altix 3000 family takes Linux® to new altitudes of scalability and performance. SGI Altix 3000 superclusters can scale up to hundreds of Intel® Itanium® 2 processors with a built-in SGI® NUMAlinkTM interconnect fabric that delivers information between nodes up to 200 times faster than conventional clustering switches. Each node of an SGI Altix 3000 supercluster can run a single Linux operating system image over 64 Intel Itanium 2 processors and up to 512GB of memory.

EDIT:

SPEC Floating-Point (Base) Rates:

64-processor SGI Altix 3700 (1GHz Itanium) - 862
64-processor SGI Origin 3800 (600MHz R14000A) - 305
64-processor HP Superdome (875MHz PA-8700+) - 267

32-processor SGI Altix 3700 (1GHz Itanium 2) - 443
32-processor IBM eServer p690 (1.3 GHz Power4) - 251
32-processor HP AlphaServer GS320 (1224MHz Alpha 21264C) - 241

http://www.aceshardware.com/#60000482
http://www.specbench.org/cpu2000/results/rfp2000.html

 

[Random Variable]

The high-bandwidth SGI NUMAlink interconnect fabric of SGI Altix 3000 superclusters delivers information between cluster nodes up to 200 times faster than standard clustering switches. Data crosses over an SGI NUMAlink switch, round-trip, in as little as 50 nanoseconds--less time than it takes a beam of light to travel 50 feet--compared to 10,000 nanoseconds or more with many commodity clustering interconnects. Furthermore, SGI Altix 3000 is the only Linux® system that provides global shared memory between cluster nodes.

With multiple nodes using the SGI built-in cluster interconnect, data is transmitted up to 200 times faster than with conventional clustering methods, enabling SGI Altix 3000 to scale to hundreds--and eventually thousands--of processors.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

Well, considdering this box seems to be geared more towards number crunching scientiffic work the Itanic sure makes alot more sense.
A neato little box with 128 CPU's on the other hand... 😉

 

[dannybin1742]

hooooo lllllleeeeeee crap!!!

wonder how that folds?

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

The newest MIPS R1xxxx processor, the 700 MHz R16000, is still based on the R10000, which was introduced in 1995.

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

Well, considdering this box seems to be geared more towards number crunching scientiffic work the Itanic sure makes alot more sense.
A neato little box with 128 CPU's on the other hand... 😉

Yeah, the R1xxxx processors don't have the greatest floating-point performance.

Oh, and the SGI Origin 3900 can scale up to 128 processors per box/cabinet.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Vespasian

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

Well, considdering this box seems to be geared more towards number crunching scientiffic work the Itanic sure makes alot more sense.
A neato little box with 128 CPU's on the other hand... 😉

Yeah, the R1xxxx processors don't have the greatest floating-point performance.

Oh, and the SGI Origin 3900 can scale up to 128 processors per box/cabinet.

My comment wasnt about one being better than the other, I just think the MIPS processors are more interresting 😛

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Vespasian

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I would have been happier if it was using the newest MIPS processor.

Well, considdering this box seems to be geared more towards number crunching scientiffic work the Itanic sure makes alot more sense.
A neato little box with 128 CPU's on the other hand... 😉

Yeah, the R1xxxx processors don't have the greatest floating-point performance.

Oh, and the SGI Origin 3900 can scale up to 128 processors per box/cabinet.

My comment wasnt about one being better than the other, I just think the MIPS processors are more interresting 😛

Techically, they shouldn't be called MIPS processors anymore because MIPS Technologies (which is now an independent company) designs low-watt embedded processors. The "MIPS" processors that SGI use are designed in-house and are fabricated by NEC.

 

[Adul]

drool

 

[peang]

I though i read somewhere that Itanium will consume a lot of electricity and very hot.
what happen if they put it hundreds of them in on rack. is it gonna be verry cooking? 🙂

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: peang
I though i read somewhere that Itanium will consume a lot of electricity and very hot.
what happen if they put it hundreds of them in on rack. is it gonna be verry cooking? 🙂

IBM was able to cram 128 Power4 processors into one cabinet, so I doubt 64 Intanium 2 processors would present a problem. The next iteration of the Itanium 2 will be manufactured using a 0.13 micron process, and will thusly dissipate much less heat (not to mention that it will have larger secondary and tertiary caches).

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Vespasian

Originally posted by: peang
I though i read somewhere that Itanium will consume a lot of electricity and very hot.
what happen if they put it hundreds of them in on rack. is it gonna be verry cooking? 🙂

IBM was able to cram 128 Power4 processors into one cabinet, so I doubt 64 Intanium 2 processors would present a problem. The next iteration of the Itanium 2 will be manufactured using a 0.13 micron process, and will thusly dissipate much less heat (not to mention that it will have larger secondary and tertiary caches).

Not that I have any power(no pun intended) figures here and now, but the POWER4 doesn't dissipate as much heat per core as Itanium AFAIK?
Of course an 8 way CPU module will dissipate plenty, but not nearly as much as 8 Itanium2's, no?

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Sunner

Originally posted by: Vespasian

Originally posted by: peang
I though i read somewhere that Itanium will consume a lot of electricity and very hot.
what happen if they put it hundreds of them in on rack. is it gonna be verry cooking? 🙂

IBM was able to cram 128 Power4 processors into one cabinet, so I doubt 64 Intanium 2 processors would present a problem. The next iteration of the Itanium 2 will be manufactured using a 0.13 micron process, and will thusly dissipate much less heat (not to mention that it will have larger secondary and tertiary caches).

Not that I have any power(no pun intended) figures here and now, but the POWER4 doesn't dissipate as much heat per core as Itanium AFAIK?
Of course an 8 way CPU module will dissipate plenty, but not nearly as much as 8 Itanium2's, no?

The large cache models dissipate about 130W.

 

[Sunner]

Is that for one die?

IIRC the big modules have 4 dies with 2 CPU's/die, and 128 MB of L3 cache?
Does anyone have any power figures for one whole module?

 

[dpopiz]

🙁 I still haven't gotten over sgi switching to generic pc architecture. They had so many cool machines back in the good old days. I grew up watching with awe the big Challenge bohemoths and Onyx2's and Indigo2's at LLNL where my dad used to work.

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
🙁 I still haven't gotten over sgi switching to generic pc architecture. They had so many cool machines back in the good old days. I grew up watching with awe the big Challenge bohemoths and Onyx2's and Indigo2's at LLNL where my dad used to work.

Generic PC architecture? There is nothing generic about NUMAflex. 😕

And apparently you haven't heard of InfiniteReality4.

 

[Random Variable]

Originally posted by: Sunner
Is that for one die?

IIRC the big modules have 4 dies with 2 CPU's/die, and 128 MB of L3 cache?
Does anyone have any power figures for one whole module?

According to Geek.com, a 1.3GHz Power4 die (with two processors and 32MB of L3 cache) consumes 115 Watts.

 

[dpopiz]

hmm so you're right! sgi does still have a few mips-based products...I thought they completely switched over to intel when they reworked the company a few years ago.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: dpopiz
hmm so you're right! sgi does still have a few mips-based products...I thought they completely switched over to intel when they reworked the company a few years ago.

A "few" MIPS products? I thought most of their workstation line, save one or two, was / is MIPS, and they haven't had an Intel-based server until now, AFAIK.

 

[miniMUNCH]

SGI has an incredibly awesome engineering staff...the Altix platform is a real butt kicker.

SGI a big nasty new RISC chip that is the final stages of design that will also use SGI NUMAflex technology (with some improvement).

<-- brother is a computer system engineer for ILM/Lucasfilm...he's always talking to SGI.

 

[Wintermute76]

You're right, they've only had Intel based systems since the Pentium3 800 MHz. Other than that mostly MIPS. Here's a link to their legacy products.

http://www.sgi.com/products/legacy/

By the way, I have a pair of Indigo2's both R10000 Solid Impacts a 175 and a 195MHz. Haven't thought of much to do with them yet though.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
SGI has an incredibly awesome engineering staff...the Altix platform is a real butt kicker.

SGI a big nasty new RISC chip that is the final stages of design that will also use SGI NUMAflex technology (with some improvement).

<-- brother is a computer system engineer for ILM/Lucasfilm...he's always talking to SGI.

SGI's are great systems for what they're designed to do, and the cases are cool (IMHO). I've had dreams about getting a used / refurb Octane / O2 system, but the high pricetag ($1K USD or more) kinda dumps me back to reality. 🙁

 

[Random Variable]

bump for the "edit"

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Vespasian
bump for the "edit"

Is floating point performance the only benchmark that really matters or is that the only one you could find or easily post?