Sun Fire X4600 Server

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server posted the best price/performance result on the TPC-H benchmark at 300 GB scale factor for all non-clustered eight-processor systems. Available on 7/6/2009, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server posted a score of 55,158 QphH@300GB and achieved leading price/performance of US$2.80/QphH@300GB.

The TPC-H benchmark was established by the Transaction Processing Council (TPC) to allow customers to evaluate the performance of various Business Intelligence/Data Warehousing (BIDW) and Decision Support Systems (DSS) systems in conjunction with a standard database size, referred to as the scale factor (SF). The benchmark measures the combined performance of a particular database manager on a specific computer system at scale factors of 100 GB, 300 GB, 1,000 GB, 3,000 GB, 10,000 GB, 30,000 GB and 100,000 GB, and reports the composite TPC-H Query-per-Hour (QphH) performance metric, as well as the price/performance, which is the ratio of total cost of solution (hardware, software and three-year maintenance costs) to the QphH.

Benchmark Outcome

• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, powered by eight AMD Opteron model 8384 processors, delivered a new record on TPC-H benchmark at 300GB scale factor with the lowest price/performance and the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) of any non-clustered 8 processor system.
• Sun's first TPC-H publication using Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 beats the competing HP DL785 server by nearly 15 percent on price/performance and uses 20 percent fewer disks in the configuration. This new record highlights the data warehousing and decision support system capabilities of Sun Fire X4600 M2 server.
• Compared to the competing IBM System x 3950 M2-based solution (available 3/7/2008), the Sun Fire X4600 M2:
  • is 1/2 the size
  • has close to 2x better price/performance
  • uses about 1/2 the number of disk drives
  • provides 2.4x better performance per rack unit
• Compared to the competing HP DL785 G5-based solution (available 11/17/08), equipped with same speed CPUs, the Sun Fire X4600 M2:
  • is about 1/2 the size
  • has 15 percent better price/performance
  • uses 20 percent fewer disk drives
  • provides 1.7x better performance per rack unit
• Joining the powerful data compression features in SQL Server 2008 with Sun's most advanced x64 server, creates a truly robust and powerful platform for data warehousing and business intelligence. The collaboration between Microsoft and Sun continues to deliver practical and affordable data warehousing solutions to their mutual customers.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server running the Solaris 10 OS and MaxDB 7.8 delivered the highest eight-processor result on the two-tier SAP® Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application Benchmark, an industry standard measure of ERP performance. This breakthrough score confirms the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server (with 8 processors, 32 cores, 32 threads) as the leading eight-processor server on the two-tier SAP SD benchmark running the new SAP enhancement package 4 for the SAP ERP 6.0 application (Unicode).

Benchmark Description

The SAP Standard Application SD Sales and Distribution Benchmark is a two-tier ERP business test that represents full business workloads of order processing and invoice processing, while demonstrating the ability to run both application and database software on a single system. The SAP Standard Application SD Benchmark represents the critical tasks performed in real-world ERP business environments.

The latest SAP enhancement package 4 for the SAP ERP 6.0 application (Unicode) enables seamless multilingual support, and brings extra overhead related to processing of larger character strings associated with Unicode encoding. Unicode is a computing standard that allows for the representation and manipulation of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems.

SAP is one of the premier worldwide ERP application providers, and maintains a suite of benchmark tests to demonstrate the performance of competitive systems on various SAP products.

Benchmark Outcome [1]

• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, equipped with eight AMD Opteron CPUs using SAP enhancement package 4 for the SAP ERP 6.0 application (Unicode), posted the best eight-processor result on two-tier SAP SD benchmark, supporting 6,050 benchmark users.
• This benchmark proves that the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, running MaxDB on top of the Solaris 10 OS, is well-suited to act as an enterprise-class ERP server, providing supreme levels of compute density per RU.
• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server surpassed the competing eight-processor (32 cores/32 threads) HP ProLiant DL785 G5 system by 10 percent with 5,518 SAP SD users.
• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server delivers almost 2x more SAP benchmark users per RU when compared to the HP ProLiant DL785 G5 server, equipped with faster processors and running the Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition OS.
• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server delivers 35 percent more SAP benchmark users in half the space, when compared to the NEC Express 5800 server, equipped with eight Intel Xeon X7460 processors and running the Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition OS.
• Compared to the NEC Express 5800 server, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server delivers 2.7x more SAP benchmark users per RU while using 50 percent fewer CPU cores and threads, running at roughly the same clock frequency.
• This result highlights the optimal performance of Unicode-based SAP ERP applications on Sun Fire(TM) servers running the Solaris(TM) Operating System (OS). Unicode enables seamless multilingual support when running various SAP applications and requires a different version of the software. Sun has pioneered the usage of Unicode-based SAP software in several benchmark publications to date and has gained significant expertise in lowering the additional resource consumption normally associated with Unicode software.
• The result also highlights the vertical consolidation capability of the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server which ran both the SAP application and database software on the same physical system.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 Server has posted a World Record result on VMmark, the benchmark developed, distributed and owned by VMware which measures performance and scalability of various hardware platforms.

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, running the VMware ESX Server 3.5.0 hypervisor, posted the best VMmark score published. The Sun Fire X4600 M2, equipped with eight quad-core AMD Opteron 8384 processors, delivered a world record VMmark score of 29.11@19 tiles, demonstrating its capability as a highly scalable virtualization platform.

• This result beats HP ProLiant DL785 server with VMmark score of 27.71 @ 19 tiles by 5 percent, while utilizing only half the amount of system memory. In addition, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server consumed only 988W on average using approximately half the physical space compared to HP's DL 785 G5 server, making it the top choice in the VMware virtualization space.
• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server is capable of supporting 114 virtual machines simultaneously thus allowing IT organizations to realize greater savings from consolidating and virtualizing their existing infrastructure.
• The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server with up to 8 processors and up to 512GB of system memory is one of the best virtualization platforms in the industry designed for maximum performance and scalability. The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server really shines under heavy load conditions of the VMmark benchmark where it delivers near linear scalability allowing customers to consolidate multiple physical systems into one, thus cutting infrastructure costs and complexity and reducing power and cooling requirements in the data center.

• Benchmark Results

• Press Release

The compounding effect of using the most advanced Quad-Core AMD Opteron model 8384 processors in one of the most innovative systems in the industry propelled the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server to the top x86 position on SPEC's integer throughput benchmark.

Sun's sever, equipped with eight Quad-Core AMD Opteron model 8384 processors produced the World Record SPECint_rate2006 score of 386. The SPEC CPU2006 benchmark, exercises a computer's processor, memory architecture, and compilers on a variety of real-world compute intensive workloads.

Furthermore, this ground breaking result showcases Sun's commitment to the Open Source movement by utilizing the freely available community-based versions of Operating System (OS) and compiler software that include all the latest features and capabilities. The OpenSolaris 2008.05 OS and Studio Express 11/08 compiler software that was used to produce this record-breaking result is available at http://www.sun.com/download/index.jsp

• Press Release

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, equipped with eight of the most advanced Quad-Core AMD Opteron model 8384 processors, posted a World Record score of 1,037,851 SPECjbb2005 bops (129,731 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM) for all x86 systems. This performance boost represents a 52% percent improvement over previously posted results on the same platform, enabling customers to continue scaling their workloads without the need for a forklift upgrade.

The SPECjbb2005 benchmark emulates the design of real-world server-side Java applications and provides an accurate reflection of the business logic and objects, while stressing the implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the scalability of the system's processors and memory.

The most stable Java Platform in the industry—Sun's Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) software (version 1.6.0_06 Performance Release) and the enterprise class Solaris 10 Operating System shine on the highly scalable AMD architecture that underpins the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server. Running on the most powerful version of the quad-core AMD processors available, the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server delivers unprecedented performance on the SPECjbb2005 benchmark, crossing 1 million business operations per second (bops) threshold and claiming the top x86 spot.

• Press Release

The Sun Fire X4600 M2 server, equipped with eight Quad-Core AMD Opteron model 8360SE processors, posted a World Record score of 683,542 SPECjbb2005 bops (85,443 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM) for all x86 systems.

The SPECjbb2005 benchmark emulates the design of real-world server-side Java applications and provides an accurate reflection of the business logic and objects, while stressing the implementation of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and the scalability of the system's processors and memory.

The powerful combination of Sun's latest Java Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) software (version 1.6.0_06 Performance Release) and the enterprise class Solaris 10 Operating System, highlights scalable AMD architecture that underpins the Sun Fire X4600 M2 server. Running on the fastest quad-core AMD processors available, Sun's server delivers top-notch performance on the SPECjbb2005 benchmark, beating x86 competition by a wide margin in the same physical space.

• Press Release

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).

• Press Release

• Benchmark Results

The 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.

• Press Release

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Press Release

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Benchmark Results

• Sun BluePrint article

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.

• Press Release

• Benchmark Results

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.

• Press Release

• Benchmark Results