Specifications

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Chapter 3
3. SGI Origin 3900 Server Features,
Configurations, and Components
The SGI Origin 3900 server is the latest model in the SGI Origin 3000 series. An Origin
3900 configuration has four times the computational density of the former Origin 3000
series configurations. The Origin 3900 server provides up to 128 processors and 256 GB
of memory per compute rack and scales to 512 processors and 1 TB of memory in a
shared-memory image.
Like the previous Origin 3000 series servers, the Origin 3900 server employs the SGI
NUMA architecture, which is a cache-coherent nonuniform memory access architecture.
The key to providing more computational power per rack lies in the new Cx-brick, which
repackages and enhances Origin 3000 series technology. The Cx-brick contains up to 16
MIPS processors and 32 GB of memory in a 4U (7-inch) module. It also contains an SGI
NUMAlink router, which was previously available only in an R-brick. As a result, you
can directly connect Cx-bricks to maximize communication speed. The Cx-brick also
offers enhanced configuration flexibility, which enables you to add memory without
adding additional processors.
The Cx-brick uses the same electronics as previous SGI Origin 3000 series systems,
which enables easy incorporation into existing systems as well as easy upgrades.
The Origin 3900 server:
• Supports MIPS processors
• Requires IRIX operating system version 6.5.18 or later.
• Uses fan-assisted ambient air cooling
• Consists of compute nodes that are linked by an interconnect network
• Contains components that are packaged into standard 19-inch rackmounted
subassemblies called bricks
• Expands by increasing either the number of bricks or the memory size
• Has three levels of system control