Silicon Graphics Octane III, User Manual, Page: 21 / 64

Upgrading or Replacing Components
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The following subsections describe some example features of the serverboards. See Figure 1-6 on
page 15 for an example functional block diagram of a Intel based system serverboard.
Processors
The Octane III deskside system can support a minimum of 2 and a maximum of up to 20
processors (120 cores). The exact type of processors provided with your system depends on the
specific configuration you ordered. Check with your sales or service representative for
information on processor availability, upgrades and compatibility. The following are examples of
types available for the Octane III at the time this document was published:
• One dual-socket Intel® Xeon® six-core processor series-based board per tray
• One dual-socket Intel® Xeon® four-core processor series-based board per tray
Higher-performance compute (HPC) trays can support two Intel® Xeon six-core processors (a
total of 12 processor cores per compute tray).
DIMM Memory
Memory configuration varies depending on the processor board type ordered with your system
tray(s). DIMM population requirements vary from one per motherboard up to 12 per motherboard,
using DIMM speeds from 1066 MHz to 1333 MHz.
The HPC serverboards in each compute tray have 240-pin DIMM sockets that can support
registered ECC DDR3-1333/1066 SDRAM (12 DIMMs total for the compute tray). As noted, the
capacity can vary based on which compute trays and DIMM types your SGI Octane III is using.
In all configurations a minimum of 3GB of DIMM per core installed is recommended for optimum
performance.
The SGI Octane III Cluster Server Component Replacement Guide, (P/N 007-5649-00 x ) has
information on adding, upgrading or replacing DIMMs in the system.
Serial ATA Drive Options
Each node board chipset includes a Serial ATA controller. Each system’s compute tray node board
uses the ICH10R chipset for up to three Gb/s SATA drive transfers. The tray’s drives are
connected to power, bus termination and configuration settings on each tray’s node board. See
Figure 1-6 on page 15 for an example block diagram of a system node board.