Innovative system design features used in Sun's x64 family of products, made possible for Sun Fire X4600 M2 server to claim the prestigious title of world's fastest x86 system.
Sun's sever, equipped with eight Dual-Core AMD Opteron model 8220 processors and capable of supporting up to 256 GB of system memory, assumes the lead on industry-recognized SPEC CPU2006 benchmark by reaching World Record SPECint_rate2006 score of 157. The SPEC CPU2006 benchmark, exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of real-world compute intensive workloads.
Sun continues to invest a significant portion of R&D budget in optimizing it's software eco-system for x86 platforms. This ground breaking result is another case in point as it showcases the latest features and capabilities of the Sun Studio 12 software, which was running in full concert with Solaris 10 Operating system (OS).
The SPEC OMP benchmark represents workloads often used in high-energy physics, weather modeling, computational chemistry and mechanical design, and consists of medium and large problem sets that stress the computer's processor, memory, compilers and OpenMP implementation. On the large problem set, which was designed for measuring and comparing 8 through 128 processor systems, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, equipped with AMD Opteron model 8220 processors and running the Solaris 10 OS and Sun Studio 11 software, is the best-performing x86 system on the planet. Sun's 8 cores/4 chips/8 threads SPECompL2001 result of 113,423 is 11% better than the SPECompL2001 score of 102,283 posted by the competing 8 cores/4 chips/8 threads HP DL585 G2 server, which was running Linux OS.
TThe SPEC CPU2006 benchmark provides a broader variety of workloads and better real-world applicability of the results than its predecessor. This new benchmark exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of compute intensive workloads, including protein sequencing, MPEG-4 decoding, XML processing, fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, and speech recognition.
Demonstrating versatility, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, outfitted with eight AMD Opteron model 8218 processors, set a new x86 World Record with SPECint_rate2006 score of 135 by utilizing Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS and the latest Pathscale compiler software. Sun's modular server, certified to run Solaris, Linux and Windows OS, allows customers to choose OS implementation without sacrificing the performance.
The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, running Red Hat Enterprise Server Linux OS, set a new Linux world record with SPECompL2001 benchmark score of 103,466, beating the rival 8 cores/4 chips/8 threads HP DL585 G2 server's score of 102,283 on the identical software stack, which includes Pathscale compiler software.
The SPEC OMPL2001 benchmark was designed for measuring and comparing Enterprise-class systems with 8 or more processors, and consists of compute-intensive, parallel-processing applications that are solving problems applicable to the fields of high-energy physics, weather modeling, computational chemistry and mechanical design. When combined with leading Solaris-based scores, this result firmly places Sun's flagship x64 server among the best-in-class computational solutions in the industry, regardless of the underlying OS.
SPEC CPU2000 is an industry-standard benchmark which measures CPU and
memory intensive computing tasks. It is made up of two benchmark suites
focused on integer and floating point performance. The Sun Fire X4600 M2
server, equipped with four of the fastest available AMD Opteron Model
8220SE processors, achieved a SPECfp_rate2000 result of 214 by using
freely available Sun Studio 11 compiler software running on the
industry's most advanced OS - the Solaris 10 Operating System.
This newly refreshed 8-socket server, when used in a 4-socket
configuration, demonstrates superior expandability that is yet to be
matched by the competition.
The Sun Fire X4600 server, equipped with four AMD Opteron Model 8220SE
processors, has broken the previous world record and is now the fastest
system running 8 threads with the 8 cores/4 chips/8 threads SPECompM2001
score of 21167. Backed by the latest versions of the Solaris 10 OS and
Sun Studio 11 software, that score bested the latest competing 8 thread
SPECompM2001 result of 19983, achieved by 4 cores/2 chips IBM System p5
550, by 6%.
The SPEC OMPM2001 is a key benchmark that is used to compare the
performance of shared memory servers executing compute-intensive
scientific applications. It represents a collection of applications that
are used in high-energy physics, weather modeling, computational
chemistry, mechanical design and several other areas, and consists of
medium and large problem sets.
The Sun Fire X4600 server, running the Solaris 10 Operating System (OS)
and using Solaris Containers to partition the application and database
instances, rises to the top as a powerful consolidation platform on the
industry-standard SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark.
Maintained by the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC),
the SPECjAppServer2004 is a multi-tier benchmark for measuring the
performance of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology-based
application servers that was developed to aid potential users in
understanding the capabilities of different solutions under a heavy
load. SPECjAppServer2004 is an end-to-end application which exercises
all parts of the underlying infrastructure that make up the application
environment, including hardware, JVM software, database software, JDBC
drivers, and the system network.
Sun's x64 flagship, the Sun Fire X4600, equipped with 8 dual-core AMD
Opteron 885 processors (16 cores total) was partitioned using Solaris
Containers technology that enables multiple applications to each run in
their own isolated execution environment. Resource management tools
included with the Solaris OS enable resources such as CPUs and memory to
be easily allocated to each zone, monitored, and dynamically adjusted to
meet changing performance requirements. The software components were
assigned to 7 different zones such that each Application Server (Sun
Java Platform, Standard Edition and the BEA WebLogic Server 9.1
software) get a zone with one AMD Opteron 885 processor (2 cores) for a
total of 6 zones, and the Database Server (IBM DB2 8.2.4 data server
software) has 2 AMD Opteron 885 CPUs (4 cores) in the last zone.
The combined capabilities of the Sun Fire X4600 server and Solaris
Containers technology demonstrated unprecedented performance and
produced the record breaking single node result of 1000.86
SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard, surpassing many competing solutions
that used multiple physical servers.
Application consolidation using Solaris Containers on the Sun Fire X4600
server is a promising way to lower costs and complexity, increase
flexibility and scalability, and reduce datacenter space and energy
requirements by enabling multiple virtual servers to run efficiently and
without conflict on the same physical platform.
The Sun Fire X4600 server is the world's fastest system on the floating point suite of the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark. Based on real world applications, the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark measures the performance of the processor, memory and compiler on the tested system. The Sun Fire X4600 server, equipped with four of the fastest available AMD Opteron processors, in combination with Solaris 10 OS and Sun Studio 11 software, trumps the competition with SPECfp2000 score of 3538 and surpasses systems based on IBM's Power5+ and the most recent Intel's Core architectures.
Demonstrating the best-to-date x64 performance on the integer suite of the SPEC CPU2000 benchmark, which is based on real world applications and measures the performance of the processor, memory and compiler, the Sun Fire X4600 server, equipped with eight of the fastest available dual-core AMD Opteron processors and running MS Windows 2003 server, reached a SPECint_rate2000 high-watermark score of 279.
This industry standard SPEC OMP benchmark is used to compare the performance of shared memory servers executing compute-intensive scientific applications and consists of medium and large problem sets. The Sun Fire X4600 server with eight of the fastest AMD Opteron processors, running Solaris 10 OS and Sun Studio 11 software is the world's best performing x86 system. This winning combination allowed Sun's server to surpass the competition on the medium size problem set by posting 8chips/8cores/8threads SPECompM2001 score of 20319, which beats HP DL585 4chips/8cores/8threads result of 17948 by 13%.
The Sun Fire X4600 server, equipped with eight of the fastest available dual-core AMD Opteron processors, demonstrated outstanding performance on SPEC CPU2000 benchmark, including a World Record floating point throughput result for all x86 systems. SPEC CPU2000 is an industry-standard benchmark which measures CPU and memory intensive computing tasks. It is made up of two benchmark suites focused on integer and floating point performance. The Sun Fire X4600 server achieved a SPECfp_rate2000 result of 231, using now freely available Sun Studio 11 compiler software running on the industry's most advanced OS - Solaris 10 Operating System.
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 SPECint, SPEComp, SPECfp, SPECjAppServer, SPECweb and SPECjbb are registered trademarks of
the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Sun's results have been submitted to SPEC. For the latest benchmark
results visit http://www.spec.org. x64 category is
comprised of all processors that are based on Advanced Micro Devices AMD64 and Intel EM64T 64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions to the x86 architecture. For comparison purposes, the terms CPU, chip and
processor are used interchangeably. Each chip has one or two cores and each socket can accommodate one chip.
"Saying this server is "fast" doesn't really do it justice.
Speed isn't nearly as important as good design, redundancy, and
close attention to detail from a seasoned server manufacturer.
Combine that with extreme flexibility and speed, and you have the X4600."
- Charlie Schluting, ServerWatch
