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Performance

This section describes the performance features of the Sun Fire system hardware.

UltraSPARC III Processor

The UltraSPARC III is a high-performance implementation of the 64-bit SPARC® V9 architecture.

Features of the UltraSPARC III CPU include:

  • Full binary compatibility with all UltraSPARC CPU applications

  • VIS instruction set for better 2D and 3D graphic processing

  • 4-way superscalar

  • 14-stage, non-stalling pipeline

  • Integrated memory controller

  • L1 caches: integrated instruction (32 kilobytes) and data (64 kilobytes)

  • L2 cache: 8 megabytes

  • MP scalability: Over 1000 CPUs per system

  • System bus: Sun Fireplane interconnect at 150 MHz

  • Error checking and correction (ECC) in external cache

TABLE 1-3 lists the UltraSPARC III CPU performance improvements over the UltraSPARC II CPU performance.

TABLE 1-3 UltraSPARC III CPU Performance Improvements

Item

Improvement

Clock frequency

Approximately 2X

Data cache size

4X

Instruction cache size

2X

Memory bandwidth

2 to 3X

External cache bandwidth

2X


CPU/Memory Board

The CPU/Memory board is common to all Sun Fire mid-range and high-end systems. The CPU/Memory board holds up to four processors. Each processor has an associated memory subsystem of eight DIMMs, so memory bandwidth and capacity both scale as processors are added. The memory capacity of the board is 32 gigabytes using 1-gigabyte DIMMs. The maximum memory bandwidth on a board is 9.6 gigabytes per second. The CPU/Memory board has a 4.8 gigabyte per second connection to the rest of the system.

I/O Modules

Each Sun Fire system I/O module contains two PCI controllers. Each controller provides one 66 MHz PCI bus, and one 33 MHz PCI bus. Each PCI bus contains two or more slots for PCI cards. A Sun Fire I/O Module has a 2.4 gigabyte per second connection to the rest of the system.

System Interconnect

All Sun Fire systems use the Sun Fireplane interconnect architecture, which is the coherent shared-memory protocol used by the UltraSPARC III/IV processor generation. Sun Microsystems uses an improved system interconnect with each new processor generation to keep system performance scaling with CPU performance.

The Sun Fireplane architecture is an improvement over the previous generation Ultra Port Architecture (UPA). The system clock rate is increased by fifty percent from 100 megahertz to 150 megahertz. The snoops-per-clock is doubled from one half to one. Taken together, these improvements triple the snooping bandwidth to 150 million addresses per second. The maximum data bandwidth for the Sun Fire 6800 and smaller systems is 9.6 gigabytes per second—triple that of the previous generation Sun Enterprise™ 6500/5500/4500/3500 systems.

The Sun Fireplane architecture also adds a new layer of point-to-point directory-coherency protocol, for use in systems that require more bandwidth than a single snooping bus can provide coherency for. This facility allows coherency to be maintained between multiple snooping buses, and is used in the Sun Fire 15K/12K systems. TABLE 1-4 lists the Sun Fire system interconnect specifications.

TABLE 1-4 Sun Fire System Interconnect Specifications

Sun Fire 3800 system

Sun Fire 4810 / 4800 systems

Sun Fire 6800 system

Sun Fire 15K/12K systems

System clock

150 MHz

Coherency protocol

Snooping

Snooping on each board set, directory across centerplane

Address interconnect

1 snooping bus

18 snooping buses, 18x18 global address crossbar, 18x18 global response crossbar

CPU/Memory board internal bisection bandwidth

4.8 Gbytes/sec

CPU/Memory board external bandwidth

4.8 Gbytes/sec

I/O board external bandwidth

2.4 Gbytes/sec

Inter-board data interconnect

4 x4 crossbar

5 x 5 crossbar

10 x10 crossbar

18 3x3 crossbars, 18x18 global crossbar

Same-board bandwidth

9.6 Gbytes/sec

121 Gbytes/sec

Different-board bandwidth

4.8 Gbytes/ sec

9.6 Gbytes/sec

43/21.6 Gbytes/sec


Centerplane Implementation

The centerplane implementation depends upon system size. The Sun Fire 6800 and 4810/4800 systems have passive centerplanes, with switch ASICs located on the Repeater boards. The Sun Fire 6800 system uses four Repeater boards to implement a 10x10 data crossbar that connects the CPU/Memory boards and the I/O modules together. The Sun Fire 4810/4800 systems use two Repeater boards to implement a 5x5 data crossbar. The Sun Fire 3800 system uses an active centerplane. The Repeater board functionality is included on the centerplane to implement a 4x4 data crossbar.

The Sun Fire 15K/12K systems use an Expander board to implement a 3x3 switch between a CPU/Memory board, an I/O module, and the centerplane port.

The Sun Fire 15K/12K system has three 18x18 crossbars on the active centerplane to provide connections between the Expander boards. The three crossbars are separate busses for address, response, and data transfers. This method keeps address traffic from interfering with data traffic. The peak Sun Fire 15K system centerplane bandwidth is 43 gigabits per second and 21.6 gigabits per second for the Sun Fire 12K system.

System Configurations

TABLE 1-5 lists the Sun Fire system maximum configurations.

TABLE 1-5 Sun Fire System Maximum Configurations

 

Sun Fire 3800 system

Sun Fire 4800 system

Sun Fire 4810 system

Sun Fire 6800 system

Sun Fire 12K system

Sun Fire 15K system

CPU/Memory boards

2

3

6

9

18

Processors

8

12

24

38/521

72/1061

Number of DIMMs

64

96

192

288

576

Memory capacity(with 1 Gbyte DIMMs)

64 Gbytes

96 Gbytes

192 Gbytes

288 Gbytes

576 Gbytes

Centerplane

Active

Passive

Active

Repeater boards

0

2

4

NA

Expander boards

NA

9

18

Domains

2

2

4

9

18

I/O/MaxCPU Modules

2

2

4

9

18

PCI card types

hot-swap Compact-PCI

PCI and hot-swap CompactPCI

Hot-swap PCI

PCI slots per assembly

6

8 per PCI, 4 per cPCI

4

Max total PCI slot

12

16

32

36

72

Bulk power supplies

2

3

6

 

6

Power requirements

100–120 VAC or 200–240 VAC

200–240 VAC

System Controller boards

2

Redundant cooling

Yes

Redundant AC input

Yes

Enclosure

Rackmount

Deskside or Rackmount

Rackmount

Sun Fire 6800 cabinet

Sun Fire 12K cabinet

Sun Fire 15K cabinet


System Board Designations and Locations

TABLE 1-6 through TABLE 1-15 list the system board designations and locations.

TABLE 1-6 System Board Abbreviations

Abbreviation

System Board

Sun Fire System

IB[6-9]

I/O Module

6800/4810/4800/3800

FP

Filler Panel

All

IO[0-17]

I/O Board

15K/12K

MaxCPU[0-17]

Dual Processor Board

15K/12K

SB[0-17]

CPU/Memory Board

All

SC[0-1]

System Controller

All

SCPER[0-1]

System Controller Peripheral Board

15K/12K


TABLE 1-7 Sun Fire 6800 System Board Locations

Front

SC0

 

SB0

SB1

SB2

SB3

SB4

SB5

SC1


TABLE 1-7 Sun Fire 6800 System Board Locations

Rear

IB9

RP2

RP3

RP0

RP1

IB8

IB7

IB6


TABLE 1-9 Sun Fire 4810 System Board Locations

Front

IB8

SC1

RP0

RP1

RP0

RP2

RP4

IB6

SC0


TABLE 1-10 Sun Fire 4800 System Board Locations

Rear

IB8

SC1

RP0

RP1

RP0

RP2

RP4

IB6

SC0


TABLE 1-11 Sun Fire 3800 System Board Locations

Front

SC1

 

SB2

SC0

 

SB0

IB6

IB8


TABLE 1-12 Sun Fire 15K System Board Locations

Front

SB8

SB7

SB6

SB5

SB4

SB3

SB2

SB1

SB0

SC0

IO8 / Max CPU

IO7 / Max CPU

IO6 / Max CPU

IO5 / Max CPU

IO4 / Max CPU

IO3 / Max CPU

IO2 / Max CPU

IO1 / Max CPU

IO0 / Max CPU

SCPER0


TABLE 1-13 Sun Fire 15K System Board Locations

Rear

SB17

SB16

SB15

SB14

SB13

SB12

SB11

SB10

SB9

SC1

IO17 / Max CPU

IO16 / Max CPU

IO15 / Max CPU

IO14 / Max CPU

IO13 / Max CPU

IO12 / Max CPU

IO11 / Max CPU

IO10 / Max CPU

IO9 / Max CPU

SCPER1


TABLE 1-14 Sun Fire 12K System Board Locations

Front

SB8

SB7

SB6

SB5

SB4

SB3

SB2

SB1

SB0

SC0

IO8 / Max CPU

IO7 / Max CPU

IO6 / Max CPU

IO5 / Max CPU

IO4 / Max CPU

IO3 / Max CPU

IO2 / Max CPU

IO1 / Max CPU

IO0 / Max CPU

SCPER0


TABLE 1-15 Sun Fire 12K System Board Locations

Rear

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

SC1

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

FP

SCPER1


System Dimensions and Footprints

FIGURE 1-5 shows the dimensions and footprints of the Sun Fire 4810/4800/3800 systems. FIGURE 1-6 shows the dimensions and footprints of the Sun Fire 15K/6800 systems.

Figure 1-5FIGURE 1-5 Sun Fire 4810/4800/3800 Systems Footprints and Dimensions


Figure 1-6FIGURE 1-6 Sun Fire 15K/6800 Systems Footprints and Dimensions

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