Product guide

IBM Flex System X6 Compute Nodes Product Guide 11
Scalability
The X6 compute nodes can scale to a 4-socket or 8-socket complex depending on the processor that is
installed into the node:
An x880 X6 node with Intel Xeon E7-8800 v2 family processors can scale up to an 8-socket

configuration, and supports 2-socket, 4-socket, and 8-socket configurations. All the processors in
these 2-socket, 4-socket, and 8-socket configurations must be identical.
An x480 X6 node with Intel Xeon E7-4800 v2 family processors can scale up to a 4-socket

configuration, and supports 2-socket and 4-socket configurations. All the processors in these 2-socket
and 4-socket configurations must be identical.
An x280 X6 node with Intel Xeon E7-2800 v2 family processors supports only 2-socket configurations.

The processors in 2-socket configurations must be identical.
The scaled X6 compute nodes are connected together through a front interconnect system. The
interconnection has a QPI bus plus the sideband signals that are needed for correct operation.
There are two scalability connector assemblies for X6 nodes, as shown in the following table.
Table 4. Scalability options for X6 compute nodes
Part
number
Feature code Description
00Y3871 A4D8 IBM Flex System x880 X6 4-Socket Scalability Connector
(used to connect two x480 or x880 Compute Nodes together)
00Y3874 A4D9 IBM Flex System x880 X6 8-Socket Scalability Connector
(used to connect four x880 Compute Nodes together)
The following figure shows the IBM Flex System x880 X6 4-Socket Scalability Connector and how it is
used to connect two X6 servers together (x880 or x480).
Figure 6. IBM Flex System x880 X6 4-Socket Scalability Connector