Dell Precision T5500 - Page 8

Dell Precision
™
T5500/T7500 Tower Workstations Technical Guide
Dell Precision Tower System Core Architecture
The new Dell Precision workstations incorporate a significant new core technology from Intel
called Nehalem which is branded as Intel Xeon in Dell Precision tower workstations. This new
technology will provide excellent levels of performance for workstation users. This section
describes how the new architecture works and some of the key differences to previous
generations of Intel architecture.
Chipset
Intel® X5520 Chipset
Key features:
• Support for 1066 & 1333MHz DDR3 memory
3
• Support for up to 192GB
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system memory (T7500) and for tri-memory
channels
• Turbo Boost – designed to dynamically increase the speed of some cores
on demand when others are inactive, enabling high performance
• Direct Cache Access (DCA) – when cores are inactive, the cache of those
cores can be accessed by those that are active
• Memory controller integrated into CPU resulting in low latency and
excellent application performance
Dell Precision Tower System Architecture Overview
This new 45nm architecture provides the next step in processor and chipset design and
performance from Intel.
The Front Side Bus (FSB) has been removed and each processor now has its own integrated
memory controller. There are new high speed point-to-point links to facilitate data transfer
between the processor and parts of the system that control the I/O and graphics. This new high
speed technology is called the Intel Quick Path Interconnect (QPI).
DDR2 memory has been replaced by fast and efficient DDR3. As dedicated memory
communicates directly with each processor rather than going through a central memory
controller then data fed to the processor has very low latency helping performance to be
enhanced.
This architecture is so advanced that it can monitor and control each individual processor core
which can help improve performance for single threaded and multi-threaded applications alike.
Let’s take a closer look and understand how this can impact performance for workstation
applications.
Intel Xeon Processors and DDR3 Memory
The integrated memory controller on new Intel Xeon processors will have three memory
channels enabling the processor to talk to three DDR3 memory modules in parallel without
having to go through a central memory controller hub. Fast memory and tight integration with
the processor delivers excellent performance.
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