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Super Micro SuperServer 8045C-3R |
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Written by Dusan Srbljak
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Friday, 14 November 2008 |
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Page 1 of 4  On September 5, 2007 Company Super Micro Computer, as leader in software optimization and production of top-quality servers, introduced their new “super server” concept. Platform that can support 4 Intel Xeon processors was introduced at the same time, but all this wouldn’t be so interesting if those Xeon CPUs didn’t have four cores. That way it was possible to create server with 16 CPU cores. Nevertheless Super Micro didn’t stop there, and neither did Intel, so now it is possible to install six-core Xeon CPUs. That way server can have 4x6=24 cores!
Super Micro motherboard and server interior design
Super Micro 8045C-3R superserver is based on X7QC3 motherboard. This motherboard is based on Clarksboro platform (Intel 7300 chipset) that supports 192 GB fully-buffered DDR2 667 or DDR2 533 MHz memory modules. Of course this is possible thanks to presence of 24 DIMM slots and to achieve maximum memory capacity, 8 GB memory modules have to be used. Motherboard has 4 PGA604 (Socket P) CPU slots with support for Xeon 7400/7300/7200 CPUs. Interesting fact is that this motherboard has one PCI-E x16 slot but it operates in 8x mode. 8045C-3R isn’t gaming platform but presence of this slot allows to user better usage of graphics card than for integrated ATi ES1000 chip. ATi ES1000 integrated graphics is designed to achieve maximum stability and reliability. On motherboard also can be found: one PCI-E x4, one PCI-X 133 MHz and one PCI-E x8 slot. Support for 8 SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) hard disks, two ATA/100 devices, one floppy disk and IPMI interface are also present.
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IPMI |
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… or Intelligent Platform Management Interface is standard that was introduced in 1998. by DELL, HP, Intel and NEC. Standard is open and more than 180 vendors participated in its development. IPMI is interface that allows server administrators to gather data about current state of server or in case of errors allows them to fix these errors over the network. So why is IPMI so special? IPMI works independently of server platform. That means that you can diagnose and repair system even when operating system doesn’t work or if server is powered down but connected to power source.
8045C-3R has IPMI version 2.0 which has support for communication with server true VLAN interface and also, brought certain security mechanisms as well as support for blade servers. |
Cooling solution for CPUs and other components is simple and very efficient. CPUs have ribbed coolers connected with heat-pipes. Since this server is packed in case that resembles tower desktop cases, air flow is designed in push&pull manner. Three 8cm fans at the front push air through aluminum CPU coolers and three 9cm fans, at the back, pull heated air out of the case. For better air flow plastic tunnel is used.
All fans are rotating at 6000RPM so noise levels are low and performances are great. In case you need to use this server as rendering workstation you can set fan rotating profiles in BIOS and achieve better cooling but also higher noise levels.
4x6
8045C-3R has 4 Xeon 7400 microprocessors (code name Dunnington) that are manufactured in 45nm manufacturing process. Working frequencies are 2.4 GHz and they dissipate 65W on full load. In real world exploitation these models should bring 35% better performances in virtualization scenarios while in other applications they can be 45% faster compared to previous generation.
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Configurations 
