Sun Fire X2250 Server

Eight Sun Fire X2250 servers, each equipped with two dual-core Intel Xeon E5272 CPUs and running 64-bit SuSE Linux (SLES10 SP1) OS, have formed a cluster with 32 logical CPUs that demonstrated world record performance on one of the most popular MCAE applications - FLUENT. The software solves fluid flow problems, is based on a numerical technique called computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and is heavily used in the automotive, aerospace and consumer products industries.

FLUENT v6.3 benchmark test suite consists of seven large models (both in memory requirements and mesh/model size) that are well suited for multi-node clustered environments and representative of modern engineering CFD clusters. Vendors benchmark their systems with the principal objective of providing comparative performance information for FLUENT software that, among other things, depends on compilers, optimization, interconnect, and the performance characteristics of the hardware.

According to the table above, Sun's solution, using InfiniBand PCIe ExpressModules interconnected via Voltaire Grid Director ISR 9096 switch, performs better than competing clusters at the same core count. Specifically, the Sun Fire X2250 cluster outshined HP BL 460 and HP DL 145 clusters while employing the Sun Fire X4540 storage server as the Object Data Server with high performance Lustre file system. Deploying shared file systems in clustered environments with large data sets often result in an additional performance boost due to lowered access times to files shared by all nodes.

The cluster of eight Sun Fire X2250 servers maintained the average scalability efficiency of around 84%, as the cluster grew in size up to the maximum of 32 cores, with cases where scalability was over 90%. These stellar results highlight the performance of Sun Fire X2250 server outfitted with most recent Intel Xeon processors and allow customers to quickly compare the performance of multiple available solutions while making their purchasing decisions.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

Four Sun Fire X2250 servers, each equipped with two dual-core Intel Xeon E5272 CPUs and running 64-bit SuSE Linux (SLES10) OS, have formed a cluster with 16 logical CPUs that demonstrated world record performance on ABAQUS/Explicit, a finite element analysis package that simulates brief transient dynamic events (a.k.a. "crashes" and high velocity impacts).

The ABAQUS/Explicit benchmark suite includes a combination of six high-speed dynamic impact events like projectile penetration or a car crash, and quasi-static events with complicated contact conditions like forming a part out of a blank metal sheet. The benchmark is intended to provide an estimate of the performance that can be expected when running representative ABAQUS analysis jobs on different computer platforms.

In all six cases the Sun Fire X2250-based cluster using InfiniBand PCIe ExpressModules interconnected via a Voltaire Grid Director ISR 9096 switch, performs comparably or better than competing clusters from HP with the same number of logical CPUs.

A cluster of four Sun Fire X2250 servers demonstrated ground-breaking performance for systems with up to 16 logical CPUs. This result also spotlights the high performance Lustre file system that boosted the cluster's overall performance by lowering access times to files shared by all nodes. Deploying shared file systems in clustered environments with large datasets often result in an additional performance boost as evidenced by up to 25 percent faster performance of the Sun Fire X2250 compared to the HP DL160 G5 system using the same Intel processors.

These stellar results highlight the performance of Sun Fire X2250 server outfitted with most recent Intel Xeon processors and allow customers to quickly compare the performance of multiple available solutions while making their purchasing decisions.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

The Sun Fire X2250 server paired with the OpenSolaris operating system (OS) and Sun Studio compiler software, delivers the best performance of all x86 systems for the SPECfp2006 benchmark.

The SPEC CPU2006 benchmark exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of real-world compute intensive workloads and consists of two benchmark suites. One suite measures and compares compute-intensive integer performance and the other measures and compares floating point performance. For each of these suites, two metrics are collected. One measures how fast the computer completes a single task and the other measures how many tasks a computer can accomplish in a certain amount of time (the throughput).

Operating system (OS) and compiler software often help to deliver the best performance by providing optimizations tailored to a specific hardware platform or microprocessor architecture. The community-developed OpenSolaris OS and Sun Studio compiler software, running on top of the Intel Xeon-based architecture, propelled the Sun Fire X2250 server, equipped with two Intel Xeon X5482 processors that have 4-cores each, to the top position with a SPECfp2006 result of 27.8.

Moreover, with the SPECfp_base2006 score of 25.8 that is only marginally lower than the highly optimized peak score, these results demonstrate well-balanced performance and should appeal to all types of users. The "base" scores are produced using less optimized benchmark binaries compiled under stricter guidelines. Although "base" scores may not reflect the ultimate performance of the system, some end users, who may prefer to spend less time tuning their compiler optimizations, may find them more relevant.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

In the first-of-its kind SPECfp2006 submission that was using the OpenSolaris operating system (OS), the Sun Fire X2250 server successfully claims the best-ever single task floating point performance for all x86 systems.

Operating system (OS) and compiler software often help to deliver the best performance by providing optimizations tailored to a specific hardware platform or microprocessor architecture. The community-developed OpenSolaris OS and Sun Studio compiler software, running on top of the Intel Xeon-based architecture, propelled the Sun Fire X2250 server, equipped with two Intel Xeon X5272 processors, to the top position with a SPECfp2006 result of 26.0. Moreover, the SPECfp_base2006 score of 24.9 is only 5% lower than the highly optimized peak score, providing well-balanced performance to all types of users.

The SPEC CPU2006 benchmark exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of real-world compute intensive workloads and consists of two benchmark suites. One suite measures and compares compute-intensive integer performance and the other measures and compares floating point performance. For each of these suites, two metrics are collected. One measures how fast the computer completes a single task and the other measures how many tasks a computer can accomplish in a certain amount of time (the throughput).

Sun's new sensibly priced server, the Sun Fire X2250, should appeal to many start-up companies, as it will allow them to explore the value and many advanced features of the community-developed open-source OS and award-winning compiler tools.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

In addition to being the industry's first submission under the OpenSolaris OS, the Sun Fire X2250 server used Sun Studio software to deliver a world record SPECompM2001 score for all systems running four threads. The SPECompM2001 benchmark is often used to compare the performance of shared memory servers executing compute-intensive scientific applications.

Sun's x86 systems have been dominant on High Performance Computing (HPC) compute-intensive workloads using superior compiler software that delivers the best performance by providing optimizations tailored to a specific hardware platform or microprocessor architecture.

The combination of the Sun Studio software (that consists of performance tools, Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and C, C++, and Fortran compilers) and OpenSolaris Operating system (OS), running on two Dual-Core Intel Xeon X5272 processors (2 chips, 4 cores) resulted in a SPECompM2001 score of 13,934 on the medium size problem set of the benchmark.

Sun's newest entry-level server, the Sun Fire X2250 is a perfect platform for developing highly scalable applications and should appeal to many up-and-coming companies and application developers, since it showcases the value and the advanced features of the community-developed open-source OS and award-winning compiler tools running on top of a commodity server.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

Sun's new entry-level Intel Xeon-based rackmount server, the Sun Fire X2250, surpasses competition with the attention-grabbing SPECint2006 result of 28.5 and SPECint_rate2006 result of 148.

The SPEC CPU2006 benchmark exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of real-world compute intensive workloads and consists of two benchmark suites. One suite measures and compares compute-intensive integer performance and the other measures and compares floating point performance. For each of these suites, two metrics are collected. One measures how fast the computer completes a single task and the other measures how many tasks a computer can accomplish in a certain amount of time.

Packing an impressive performance potential into the minimalist 1 rack-unit (RU) footprint, the Sun Fire X2250 server was able to overcome competing systems like the SGI Altix XE 250 and HP ProLiant DL160 G5 with the SPECint_2006 score of 28.5, thus setting a new world record result.

Additionally, on the throughput portion of the benchmark, the Sun Fire X2250 server, equipped with the Intel Xeon E5472 processor running at 3GHz, was able to defeat other competing systems running at a higher clock frequency and set a new SPECint_rate2006 x86 world record for all systems with 2 processors.

These two world record results are very compelling for both Sun and Intel, as they highlight the advantages of Intel's processors combined with Sun's systems design. Moreover, the Intel 10.1 compiler software running on top of SUSE Linux ES 10 Operating system (OS) was instrumental in delivering the best performance.

• SPECint2006 Benchmark Results

• SPECint_rate2006 Benchmark Results

• Press Release