While Advanced Micro Devices and Intel are aggressively promoting their consumer-oriented central processors, IBM has decided not to pay heed to this segment overly much, investing, instead, more time and effort into its high-performance multi-core server solutions. Most recently, the company has completed the development of its Power7 eight-core server chips and has begun to ship them on schedule.
IBM designed its Power7 processors as a means to achieve a high computing performance and efficiency in tasks that handle high quantities of data. The chip is built with up to eight cores, each boasting 8MB of embedded DRAM, removing the need for L3 cache. As such, these processors can run up to four threads at the same time and achieve a throughput that is four times greater than the one possible with the Power6 processor. The Power7 also has 1.2 billion transistors and can divide any system into up to 1,000 virtual systems, each with its own OS (excluding Windows)
IBM has already started offering a series of pre-built servers based on this new computing solution, although, predictably, their prices are not exactly among the most concerned with end-user budget. The entry-level IBM Power 750 Express, for instance, brings the benefits of up to 32 parallel tasks but has a price tag of no less than $34,000. But even at this price, it can barely compare with the high-tier Power 780, which can use up to 64 Power7 cores.
More specifically, the server comes with either eight 4.1GHz quad-core units or eight 3.8GHz eight-core processors. This high computing power and potential for parallel processing is coupled with up to 24SSDs and as much as 2TB of DDR3 memory. The price of this unit was not disclosed, although this may prove fortuitous for the faint of heart.
Information on the complete line of IBM Power server may be found on the official
website.
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