Date: 26-Nov-2009 URL: www.sun.com/servers/x64/x4240/performance.xml

Sun Fire X4240 Server

Powered by the Six-Core AMD Opteron processor, the Sun Fire X4240 gives you up to twice the memory and storage capacity of any system in its class. It's the first and only two-socket AMD Opteron system with sixteen hard drive slots in a 2RU form factor.

(Tue, 09 December 2008)

Two Consecutive World Records: the Sun Fire X4240 Server Dominates Dual-Processor Category of SPECweb2005 Benchmark

The Sun Fire X4240 server set two new world records on SPECweb2005 benchmark—the industry standard measure of web server performance. Within one month Sun's newest server based on AMD Opteron architecture posted two results that were the best among all other dual-processor servers. The Sun Fire X4240 server outperformed competitive systems that were running Linux Operating System (OS) and were equipped with either quad-core Intel Xeon or AMD Opteron processors. These leading performance and performance per watt results confirm the Sun Fire X4240 server as the highest performing and most efficient dual-socket platform on the planet for deployment of secure web services.

SPECweb2005 is the industry standard benchmark for evaluating Web Server performance. The benchmark simulates multiple user sessions accessing a Web Server and generating static and dynamic HTTP requests. The major features of SPECweb2005 are:

Measures simultaneous user sessions
Dynamic content: currently PHP and JSP implementations
Page images requested using 2 parallel HTTP connections
Multiple, standardized workloads: Banking (HTTPS), E-commerce (HTTP and HTTPS), and Support (HTTP)
Simulates browser caching effects
File accesses more accurately simulate today's disk access patterns

Competitive Comparisons Table [1]

	Sun Fire X4240	Sun Fire X4240	HP DL380 G5	HP DL385 G5
Processor	AMD Opteron 2384	AMD Opteron 2360SE	Intel Xeon X5460	AMD Opteron 2356
Number of processors	2	2	2	2
Power Consumption (Watts)	464	521	536	700
Performance (Composite)	37,630	32,288	29,591	30,007
Performance/Watt (Higher is Better)	81	61.97	55.2	42.86

Benchmark Outcome

In early November 2008, the Sun Fire X4240 server equipped with two 2.5 GHz Quad-core AMD Opteron model 2360SE processors (code name 'Barcelona') delivered the best 2-socket result with the SPECweb2005 score of 32,288.
The above result demonstrates 8% improvement over the HP ProLiant DL385 G5 score which was the previous leading dual-socket result published at www.spec.org.
Additionally, the Sun Fire X4240 server equipped with two 2.5 GHz Quad-core AMD Opteron model 2360SE processors delivers 9% greater performance than the 2-socket HP ProLiant DL380 G5 server with 3.16 GHz Quad-core Intel Xeon 5460 processors.
The Sun Fire X4240 server outfitted with 'Barcelona' processors had an average power consumption of 521 watts. The average power consumption was measured for each of the three SPECweb2005 benchmark workloads during the steady state load period at peak load. The Sun Fire X4240 server has 12% better performance/watt than HP DL380 G5 and 34% better performance/watt than HP DL 385 G5 server.
Most recently Sun introduced support for the latest AMD Opteron processors (code name 'Shanghai') across its product portfolio. Consecutively, the Sun Fire X4240 server equipped with two 2.7 GHz Quad-core AMD Opteron model 2384 processors has been tested on SPECweb2005 benchmark and has delivered the best dual-processor result with the score of 37,630.
The new world record dual-processor result with 'Shanghai' processors represents 16% improvement vs previous score posted by Sun Fire X4240 server equipped with 'Barcelona' chips and is 25% better than the next competing dual-socket result by HP DL 385 G5 server.
The Sun Fire X4240 server equipped with two AMD Opteron model 2384 processors had an average server power consumption of 464 watts for all benchmark workloads at steady state. This represents 12% power savings on the per server basis, but most importantly improves Sun Fire X4240 server's performance/watt by over 30% when compared to the previous result with Quad-Core AMD Opteron model 2360SE processors.
The Sun Fire X4240 server with two AMD Opteron model 2384 processors delivers 27% better performance than the HP ProLiant DL380 G5 equipped with two 3.16 GHz Quad-core Intel Xeon 5460 processors and has 47% better performance/watt than the above mentioned HP server.
Since SPECweb2005 benchmark is designed to measure web server performance on system under test (SUT) it does not take into consideration any other equipment (like external storage) that was used to produce benchmark results. For the large number of supported user sessions, as in the case of Sun Fire X4240 server result, storage represents a significant part of the overall solution. Sun recognizes that fact and in the spirit of complete transparency discloses the power consumption for the external storage that was used in this test. Four Sun StorageTek 3510 FC arrays used to produce the record-breaking score had an average power consumption of 1240W.
On the software side, Sun solution used the 'best of breed' approach by deploying Accoria Networks' Rock Web Server v1.4.7 software and Rock JSP/Servlet Container v1.3.2. script engine on top of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 OS. The resulting performance further highlights Sun Microsystems' ability to deliver the best performing servers, regardless of operating system environments.
In summary, this world record dual-processor benchmark clearly demonstrates that the Sun Fire X4240 server can support thousands of concurrent web server sessions and is capable of delivering utmost performance and scalability.

Press Release

[1] HP DL380G5 power consumption from HP Power Calculator for system configured with 2 x X5460 3.16GHz processors, redundant PSU, 8 x 4GB DIMMs, 2 x PCI-E cards and 8 x 36GB SAS drives, 90% utilisation on 12/08/08: http://h30099.www3.hp.com/configurator/powercalcs.asp HP DL385G5 power rating of 700W is estimated as 70% of maximum PSU rating published here on 12/8/2008. Sun Fire X4240 power consumption was measured during the benchmark run.

The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) is a non-profit corporation formed to establish, maintain and endorse a standardized set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest generation of high-performance computers. SPEC develops suites of benchmarks and also reviews and publishes submitted results from their member organizations and other benchmark licensees.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, J2EE, Sun Fire and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SPEC and the benchmark names SPECviewperf, SPECweb, SPECint, SPEComp, SPECfp, SPECjAppServer, SPECjvm, SPECpower, SPECmail, SPECsfs and SPECjbb are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Sun's results have been submitted to SPEC. Competitive data obtained from http://www.spec.org as of the date located next to the respective claim. See the website for latest results. For comparison purposes, the terms CPU, chip and processor are used interchangeably. Each socket can accommodate one chip. SAP, R/3, mySAP reg TM of SAP AG in Germany and other countries. For the latest results and additional information visit www.sap.com/benchmark. TPC Benchmark C, tpmC, TPC-C, TPC Benchmark H, TPC-H, QphH are trademarks of the Transaction Performance Processing Council (TPC). More info http://www.tpc.org.