Specifications

future upgrades with cell
boards
superior processor cell
cooling with the turbo-
cooler
The rp8400 provides outstanding customer investment protection and lasting value with a system
infrastructure that is designed to accommodate several generations of processor upgrades. And
future PA-RISC and Intel Itanium Processor Family cell boards will preserve the current form factor,
thus making upgrades quick and easy.
To upgrade an existing partition, the customer simplyremoves all the cells and the memory
contained within the partition. The memory DIMMs are transferred to the new processor cells, and
the new processor cells are installed into the chassis.
Today’s rp8400 is ready for the next generation of processors, which means it will stay ahead of
tomorrow’s performance demands. Whether it’s a PA-RISC or an Intel Itanium Processor Family
follow-on processor, the rp8400 delivers the investment protection afforded by convenient in-
chassis upgrades.
One of the design objectives for the HP Server rp8400 was to deliver industry-leading
performance density while maintaining high levels of availability and reliability. As one of the
world’s most powerful microprocessors, the PA-RISC processor and its associated core electronics
require an efficient mechanism to remove excess heat. Efficient heat removal is one of the key
techniques HP uses to ensure the highest levels of reliability in all of the components that make up
our server computers.
The key to processor cell cooling in the rp8400 is the turbo-cooler. The turbo-cooler allows new
levels of performance density and efficiency while maintaining the high levels of reliability and
availability that HP customers have come to expect. The improved density provided by turbo-
coolers is apparent from the compact packaging accomplished in the rp8400 cell assembly.
about the turbo-cooler
The turbo-cooler consists of a patented spiral vane heat spreader/dissipater, with an integrated
Panasonic Panaflo ventilator fan nestled in the center of the fan assembly. The integrated fan has
the longest life specification of any fan in its class. It includes Panasonic’s proprietary Hydrowave
long-life bearing, which uses a clever but simple pumping action to ensure a continuous supply of
oil where it is most needed. Hydrowave bearings are over four times more robust than ball-bearing
designs, and the Panaflo fan life is more than four and one-half times better than that of any
competing vendor's server fans. The fan and spiral vane heat spreader/dissipater mean that turbo-
coolers provide quiet, efficient cooling with outstanding reliability.
figure 9. The turbo-cooler provides quiet, efficient, and highly reliable cooling.
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