Silicon Graphics ICE XA, Hardware User'S Manual, Page: 44 / 96

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3: System Overview
SGI ICE XA System and Blade Architectures
The SGI ICE XA series of computer systems are based on an FDR InfiniBand I/O fabric. This
concept is supported and enhanced by using the SGI ICE XA blade-level technologies described
in the following subsections.
Depending on the configuration you ordered and your high-performance compute needs, your
system may be equipped with blades using different InfiniBand host-channel adapter (HCA)
cards, see “IP125 Blade Architecture Overview” for an example.
IP125 Blade Architecture Overview
Each IP125 blade contains four two-socket compute nodes. The IP125 blade architecture is
described in more detail in the following paragraphs.
The compute blade contains the processors, memory, and four of the following fourteen-data rate
(FDR) InfiniBand embedded HCAs:
• Single-port IB HCA
• Dual-port IB HCA
Each of the two physical boards within the IP125 blade is divided into two (logically independent)
compute nodes equipped with two processor sockets and eight DIMM slots. Features of the IP125
blade include:
• Eight Intel processors total within each blade
• The eight processors are cooled with liquid “Cold Sink” technology
• Each processor slot supports four DDR4 memory RDIMMs at up to 2133 MT/s (thirty-two
memory DIMM slots total per IP125 blade)
• Dual or single port IB mezzanine cards are supported (but not mixed) within the blade
• Four board management controllers (BMCs) - one per logical node
• The blade can be fitted with optional expansion kits that support:
– Up to eight SATA 2.5-inch SSD or HDD (scratch/swap) drives - (note that you cannot
mix SSD and HDD drive types on the same blade)
– Up to eight low-profile PCIe cards (or four cards and four drives)
– One or two liquid-cooled accelerator cards