IBM x3450 Product Manual
A leading-edge, rack-dense, 1U dual-socket HPC server
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
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Product Guide
September 2008
IBM System x3450
Product Overview
CONTENTS
Product Overview
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Selling Features
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Key Features
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Key Options
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x3450 Images
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x3450 Specifications
7
The Bottom Line
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For More Information
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Legal Information
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Extreme high-performance computing in only 1U
[Suggested Uses: Petroleum/Petrochemical, Financial, Life Sciences, Academia/Government
research, and Digital Media organizations that require an HPC server.]
You need high performance and large memory addressability—all while minimizing costs and
saving space. The dual-socket IBM® System x3450 meets that challenge. It supports the latest
quad- and dual-core Intel® Xeon™ processors, designed with up to a leading-edge 1600MHz
front-side bus (FSB), 64-bit extensions (EM64T), and either 6MB (dual-core) or 12MB (quadcore) of L2 cache, to provide you with all the computing power you need. In addition, the x3450
uses industry-standard fully buffered 667MHz or fully buffered 800MHz memory with Chipkill™
ECC (Error Checking and Correcting) protection—for high performance and reliability. For even
higher levels of availability, the x3450 also offers selectable online hot-spare memory standard.
Dual integrated high-speed Gigabit Ethernet controllers with IOAT (I/O Acceleration
Technology) support are standard, as is a high-performance adapter slot (PCIe x16 Gen 2).
All models offer impressive scalability, including dual-processor support, up to 64GB of memory
and high-performance hard disk drives with an internal storage capacity of 1.5TB (two 3.5-inch
simple-swap Serial ATA II). The dense 1U form factor allows you to increase your computing
power and spread your workload without outgrowing your current data center. Up to 42 of these
1U servers can be installed in a single 42U rack, for a total of up to 84 processors (and up to 336
processor cores), offering tremendous deployment flexibility.
Standard in the x3450 is an integrated Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that enables
the user to manage and control the server easily—both locally and remotely. This high level of
manageability is designed to keep costs down and the system up—even when network usage
increases. These advanced features help maximize network availability by increasing uptime, as
do simple-swap SATA HDDs; temperature-controlled fans; and IPMI 2.0 support, including
highly secure remote power control and Serial over LAN.
If you need highly manageable, extreme high-performance computing power in a dualsocket/multi-core rack-dense package, the x3450 is the ideal system.
Selling Features
Price/Performance
The x3450 offers numerous features to boost performance and reduce product and operating
costs:
• Up to two quad- or dual-core Xeon processors, high-end 1600MHz front side bus and
6MB or 12MB (processor-specific) of integrated Level 2 cache per processor, offer
tremendous performance capable of tackling the toughest jobs. 64-bit extensions provide
the flexibility to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications concurrently.
• Energy-efficient processors draw less energy and produce less waste heat than high-
voltage processors, thus helping to reduce data center energy costs. Some of the quad-
core Xeon processors use only 80W. This is only 20W per core, vs. 32.5W per core for
65W dual-core processors.
• Ultra-fast fully buffered 667MHz PC2-5300 DDR II or 800MHz AMB+ PC2-6400 DDR II
ECC memory with Chipkill protection provides speed and high availability.
• One high-speed PCIe adapter slot offers investment protection by supporting high-
performance adapters, such as 10Gb Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand cards, which
won’t run in older 33MHz and 66MHz conventional PCI slots.
• Up to two 3.5-inch simple-swap enterprise-class Serial ATA II (SATA II) drives offe r
performance nearly equal to that of Ultra320 SCSI (300MBps half-duplex vs. 320MBps
half-duplex, respectively), and with lower latency.
• The integrated dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers with IPMI 2.0 support provide high-speed
network communications.
• The I/O Acceleration Technology (IOAT) feature offers higher performance for TCP/IP
A leading-edge, rack-dense, 1U dual-socket HPC server
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2
traffic, with less overhead on the system processor.
• A high degree of device integration—including SATA, dual Gigabit Ethernet, systems
management and video controllers—lowers costs and frees up valuable adapter slots.
Flexibility
The x3450 has the ability to grow with your application requirements, thanks to
• A choice of quad-core or dual-core processors with 2.8 to 3.4GHz clock rates, 1600MHz
FSB, and 80W to 120W maximum power draw.
• Orderable with zero, one, or two 500GB SATA II HDDs standard (two maximum)
• Up to 64GB of high-speed fully-buffered DDR2 system memory; orderable with 4GB, 8GB,
32GB, or 64GB standard
• The high-performance PCIe adapter slot supports x1, x4, x8, and x16 adapters.
• The three USB 2.0 ports are up to 40X faster1 than older USB 1.1 ports. This provides
speedy access to external HDDs (non-arrayed), optical drives, tape drives, and other USB
devices. One port is on the front of the unit, two are on the back.
• Two internal 3.5-inch simple-swap SATA II HDDs provide a maximum of 1.5TB of
internal storage.
Manageability
Powerful systems management features simplify local and remote management of the x3450:
• The x3450 includes a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) to monitor server
availability, perform Predictive Failure Analysis, and other functions. The BMC enables
service personnel to use sophisticated diagnostic tools to resolve problems quickly.
• Integrated IPMI 2.0 support alerts you to anomalous environmental factors, such as voltage
and thermal conditions. It also supports highly secure remote power control using data
encryption.
Availability and Serviceability
The x3450 provides many features to simplify serviceability and increase system uptime:
• x3450 servers use fully buffered memory DIMMs with Chipkill protection. Chipkill memory
is up to 16X better than standard ECC memory at correcting memory errors. This can help
reduce downtime caused by memory errors. Fully buffered DIMMs provide additional
availability features, including CRC (cyclic redundancy check) monitoring.
• The x3450 offers selectable online hot-spare memory for redundancy in the event of a
noncorrectable memory failure
• The chassis includes easy access to upgrades and serviceable parts. Individual fans and
the fan assembly, as well as PCIe adapters, can be installed and replaced without tools.
This means less time (and therefore less money) spent servicing the x3450. Also, online
hot-spare memory helps reduce system downtime due to memory errors.
• IPMI 2.0 supports highly secure remote system power control using data encryption. This
allows an administrator to restart a server without having to visit it in person, saving travel
time and getting the server back up and running quickly and securely. It also adds new
features to those provided by IPMI 1.5, including Serial over LAN, and enhanced
authentication and encryption algorithms.
• Temperature-controlled fans adjust to compensate for changing thermal characteristics.
At the lower speeds they draw less power and suffer less wear. Equally important in a
crowded data center, temperature-controlled fans produce less ambient noise in the data
center than if they were constantly running at full speed.
Key Features
High-Performance Xeon Processors
The x3450 comes standard with two high-performance Intel Xeon processors. The x3450 offers a
choice of processor clock rates, FSB speeds and power draw, including:
• 120W quad-core Xeon processor model X5472 or X5482 at 3.0 or 3.2GHz respectively
with 64-bit extensions, a 1600MHz FSB, and 12MB of L2 processor cache (2 x 6MB)
• 80W quad-core Xeon processor models E5462 or E5472 at 2.8 or 3.0GHz (respectively),
with 64-bit extensions, a 1600MHz FSB, and 12MB of L2 processor cache (2 x 6MB)
• 80W dual-core Xeon processor model X5272 at 3.4GHz, with 64-bit extensions, (40W per
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Data transfer rates may be less than the maximum possible.
A leading-edge, rack-dense, 1U dual-socket HPC server
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core), a 1600MHz FSB, and 6MB of L2 processor cache (1 x 6MB)
Dual-core Xeon processors contain two complete processor cores; quad-core processors,
similarly, contain four cores. Dual-core processors contain one cache shared by both cores,
while quad-core processors have two shared caches (one per pair of cores). The shared cache is
dynamically allocated between the cores as needed. The multiple cores appear to software as
multiple physical processors. The dual-core processors offer considerably higher performance
than a same-speed Xeon processor with a single core. Likewise, quad-core processors offer
considerably higher performance than a same-speed Xeon processor with dual cores.
Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T) 64-bit extensions allow the Xeon processor to
use large memory addressing when running with a 64-bit operating system. This in turn lets
individual software processes directly access more than 4GB of RAM, which was the limit of 32bit addressing. This can result in much higher performance for certain kinds of programs, such as
database management and CAD. Additional registers and instructions (SSE3) can further boost
performance for applications written to use them. Contact your software provider to determine
their software support for EM64T.
The 1600MHz FSB (which connects memory to the processor) boasts a peak rate of 12.8GBps,
or up to 20% higher throughput at the same processor clock speed than a 1333MHz FSB, and up
to 54% higher throughput than a 1066MHz FSB. This may result in significantly higher data
transfer rates.
Intelligent Power Capability powers individual processor elements on and off as needed.
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology allows the system to dynamically adjust processor
core frequency and voltage. Both of these capabilities help reduce energy consumption and
ambient noise.
Execute Disable Bit functionality can help prevent certain classes of malicious buffer overflow
attacks when combined with a supporting operating system.
DDR II ECC Fully Buffered Memory with Chipkill Protection
The x3450 supports up to 64GB of memory in 16 DIMM sockets. Some models ship with two
4GB DIMMs standard, some with eight 4GB DIMMs and some with 16 4GB DIMMs standard.
The x3450 uses PC2-5300 or PC2-6400 fully-buffered double data rate II (DDR2) memory
(operating at 667MHz or 800MHz) for faster access, and provides Active Memory features,
including advanced Chipkill memory protection, for up to 16X better error correction than
standard ECC memory.
The fully buffered memory in the x3450 provides up to triple the memory bandwidth (up to
21.3GBps in four channels of PC2-5300 fully-buffered DIMMs vs. a maximum of 6.4GBps in two
channels of unbuffered PC2-3200 memory and up to double the system memory capacity (16
DIMMs x 4GB) of competitive servers (8 DIMMs x 4GB). By performing reads and writes
simultaneously, it eliminates the memory read-to-write blocking latency of unbuffered DDR2
memory. In addition, it also offers innovative data reliability and security features to help improve
data integrity, including enhanced CRC protection, data retry on error detect and buffer registers
for improved fault isolation.
For increased availability, the x3450 offers an additional level of memory protection: online hot-
spare memory. The 16 DIMM slots are divided into two branches of 8 slots apiece, and each
branch contains two channels of four DIMMs apiece. When online hot-spare memory is enabled,
using single and/or dual-rank DIMMs one rank is set aside per channel as online spares in case
one of the other ranks fails. The spare rank must have capacity at least that of the largest active
rank. Up to 56GB (using 16 dual-rank 4GB DIMMs) of memory is available when the hot-spare
feature is active. (If using 16 single-rank 4MB DIMMs, only 48MB is available.)
This feature is enabled in BIOS; it is operating system independent.
When dual-rank DIMMs are installed, multiples of four ranks operate in 4:1 rank Interleaving
mode, for highest performance. If single-rank DIMMs are used, the system operates in two-way
branch Interleaving mode.
DIMMs must be installed in pairs. Memory is available in kits consisting of two 2GB or 4GB
DIMMs.
Drive Bays
The x3450 contains two HDD drive bays in all, depending on the model. All models offer two 3.5inch bays that support simple-swap SATA II drives. This enables up to two slimline (1.0") drives
to be installed, totaling up to 1.5TB. Some models ship with one 500GB SATA II drive installed,
and others with two such drives installed; the rest ship with both drive bays available.
Simple-swap drives can be inserted or removed through the front of the server without tools, like
hot-swap drives; however, unlike with hot-swap drives, the system power must first be turned off.
An external USB floppy drive or optical drive may be added, if needed.
A leading-edge, rack-dense, 1U dual-socket HPC server
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Disk Controllers
All models have a SATA controller integrated in the system chipset, which supports up to two
internal 3.5-inch simple-swap SATA II drives with maximum data transfer rates of up to 300MB
(half-duplex) per second. This is throughput is similar to that of Ultra320 SCSI (320MBps, halfduplex), and with lower latency.
Large HDD Storage Capacity
The x3450 offers a choice of disk storage, supporting up to two (3.5-inch) simple-swap SATA II
drives:
• 7,200 RPMs — 250, 500, or 750GB (1.5TB)
Simple-swap SATA drives are not hot-swappable (the system must first be powered off);
however, no tools or jumpers are required for installation and removal, allowing for faster, simpler
servicing than fixed drives. If you need more storage space, terabyte capacities are possible with
external direct-attach, NAS and SAN solutions.
High-Performance Adapter Slot
The x3450 provides one x16 (“by 16”) 8GBps PCIe (PCI Express) Gen 2 adapter slot standard.
This slot is capable of supporting x1/x4/x8/x16 adapters at full rated speed. This slot is full-
length/full-height.
PCI Express is a high-performance, low-latency, next-generation serial I/O bus that is rapidly
replacing the older parallel PCI and PCI-X buses. A x16 Gen 2 PCIe adapter slot offers
approximately sixteen times the maximum throughput of a 133MHz PCI-X adapter2. (A x1 Gen 1
slot offers throughput similar to a 66MHz PCI-X slot.)
Because the SATA, dual Gigabit Ethernet, systems management and video controllers are
integrated onto the system board, the adapter slots are all available, which offers a wide degree
of latitude in expansion options.
Dual Gigabit Ethernet Controllers
The x3450 includes two integrated Gigabit Ethernet ports, supported by a combination of the
system chipset and the Intel 82563EB Physical Layer Transceiver (PHY), for up to 10X higher
maximum throughput than a 10/100 Ethernet controller, as well as providing support for IOAT
(I/O Acceleration Technology).
IOAT provides high-performance data movement via stateless network acceleration across
multiple ports and virtual machines.
It also supports highly secure remote power management using IPMI 2.0, plus Wake on LAN®
and PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) flash interface. Optional PCI adapters offering failover
and load balancing between adapters are available for added throughput and increased system
availability.
Efficient Cooling
Strategically located fans, combined with efficient airflow paths, provide highly effective system
cooling for the x3450. The server with one power supply includes five fixed dual-rotor fans. In
addition, the power supply contains two fans.
The system contains four cooling zones. Zone 1 (incorporating two fans) cools one processor
and 8 DIMM sockets. Zone 2 (two fans) cools the other processor and the remaining 8 DIMM
sockets. Zone 3 (the fifth fan) cools one HDD and the PCIe slots. Zone 4 (consisting of the two
power supply fans) cools the power supply and the other HDD. The five fans can be removed
individually without tools for servicing, or the fan assembly, containing four of the fans, can be
removed as a unit.
The fans automatically adjust speeds in response to changing thermal requirements. When the
temperature inside the server increases, the BMC speeds up all fans speed up to maintain the
proper ambient temperature. When the temperature returns to a normal operating level, the fans
return to their default speed. Why not simply run the fans at 100% capacity all the time? For
several good reasons: to reduce the ambient noise, reduce the wear-and-tear on the fans and to
reduce the server power draw. The reduction in ambient noise and power draw may be relatively
minor for a single server, but put dozens or hundreds in a data center and it can make a big
difference.
This cooling scheme is important because newer, more powerful processors generate a
significant amount of heat, and heat must be controlled for the system to function properly.
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Actual throughput will depend on the adapter vendor’s implementation.
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