Dell 6100 - Chapter 1 Introduction; System Features

Introduction 1-1
Chapter 1
Introduction
D
ell
®
PowerEdge
®
6100/200 systems are high-
speed, scalable, upgradable servers designed around
the Intel
®
Pentium
®
Pro family of microprocessors.
The PowerEdge 6100 systems provide both Extended
Industry-Standard Architecture (EISA) and high-
performance Peripheral Component Interconnect
(PCI) expansion slots to allow for future expansion of
your system.
This chapter describes the major hardware and software
features of your computer, provides information about
the indicators and controls on the computer’s front panel,
discusses connecting external devices to the computer,
and provides information on system security.
S
ystem Features
Your computer offers the following major features:
•
Up to four Pentium Pro microprocessors with an
internal operating frequency of 200 megahertz
(MHz) and an external bus speed of 66 MHz.
NOTE: The microprocessors are installed on one or
two microprocessor modules in the microprocessor
slots on the system board. Each module can hold two
microprocessors, allowing you to upgrade to a faster,
more powerful system as your processing needs increase.
If you have only one microprocessor module installed,
you must also install a bus termination module or a
second empty microprocessor module. Upgrade kits
from Dell contain the correct microprocessor version
for your PowerEdge system.
The Pentium Pro microprocessor features Dynamic
Execution, which combines three processing tech-
niques:
— Multiple branch prediction: The processor antic-
ipates jumps in the instruction flow and where
the next instruction can be found in memory.
— Data flow analysis: The processor determines
which instructions are ready for processing and
which are waiting for results from other instruc-
tions. The processor then schedules instruction
execution to minimize idle time.
— Speculative execution: The processor executes
instructions according to the optimized schedule
for maximum processor performance and
efficiency.
•
Cache memory (internal to the Pentium Pro module)
that provides 512 kilobytes (KB) of static random-
access memory (SRAM). Cache memory enhances
the speed of many microprocessor operations by
storing the most recently accessed contents of sys-
tem memory.
•
Support for symmetric multiprocessing by installing
up to four microprocessors total. Symmetric multipro-
cessing greatly improves overall system performance
by dividing microprocessor operations between the
independent microprocessors. To take advantage of
this feature, you must use an operating system that
supports multiprocessing, such as Microsoft
®
Win-
dows NT
®
3.51 or 4.0 or Novell
®
NetWare
®
4.1 SMP
(and later versions).
NOTE: If you decide to upgrade your system by
installing additional microprocessors (up to four
microprocessors total), you must order a micro-
processor upgrade kit from Dell to ensure