An affordable single-socket, quad-core server with high performance
and data protection for small, medium, and large businesses
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
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Product Guide
October 2010
IBM System x3200 M3
Product Overview
CONTENTS
Product Overview
Selling Features
Key Features
Key Options
x3200 M3 Images 1
x3200 M3 Specifications 1
The Bottom Line 1
Server Comparison Chart
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For More Information 1
Legal Information 1
Value-priced performance, capacity and availability
Suggested uses: Small and medium businesses, distributed large enterprises, retail,
banking, and insurance companies seeking scalability, top performance, and enterprise-
class availability features at an entry-level price.
The single-socket IBM
®
System x3200 M3, incorporating IBM X-Architecture
®
features, is
an affordable, single-socket tower server that offers more performance, configuration
flexibility and availability features than many other servers in its class. From network
infrastructure to distributed applications to front-end workloads, the x3200 M3 is designed to
meet a wide range of business needs and help you adapt to changing business
requirements.
It supports, at the high end, the latest quad-core Intel
®
Xeon
®
3400 Series processors,
designed with speedy 1333MHz memory access (FSB) and 8MB of L3 cache, to help
provide the computing power you need to match your business needs and growth. For
power-constrained environments, a low-voltage, dual-core Xeon processor is also
available, with 4MB of cache. If cost is your primary concern, the x3200 M3 offers a model
using the affordable dual-core Celeron processor with 2MB of L3 cache. In between, there
are models that use the dual-core Pentium processor with 3MB of L3 cache, as well as a
dual-core Core i3 processor with 4MB of L3 cache. All models are designed with an
integrated memory controller for greatly improved memory performance (up to 1333MHz
access, depending on the processor), 64-bit extensions (EM64T), and multithreading, to
provide the computing power you need to match your business needs and growth. In
addition, the x3200 M3 uses industry-standard 1066/1333MHz DDR3 ECC (Error Checking
and Correcting) memory—for high performance and reliability.
All models offer impressive scalability, including up to 32GB
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of memory and up to four 3.5-
inch hot-swap enterprise-class Serial ATA II (SATA II) hard disk drives with a total capacity
of up to 8TB
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, or up to four 3.5-inch simple-swap enterprise-class SATA II hard disk drives
with a total capacity of up to 8TB, or eight 2.5-inch hot-swap SAS drives with an internal
storage capacity of up to 4.8TB.
For additional performance and high availability, the x3200 M3 offers integrated hardware
RAID-0/1 support standard in the hot-swap SAS/SATA models (optional for simple-swap
SATA models), and optional RAID-10/5/6. To meet your backup requirements, the x3200 M3
supports a choice of half-high tape drives, an optical drive, or an IBM RDX Removable
Hard Disk Storage System. The server ships as a tower unit; an optional rack conversion
kit turns the x3200 M3 hot-swap models into a 5U rack-mounted server to save precious
data center floor space.
Standard in the x3200 M3 is the Integrated Management Module (IMM) that enables the
user to manage and control the server easily—both locally and, using the optional Virtual
Media Key, remotely. The IMM offers a high level of manageability that is designed to keep
costs down and the system up—even when network usage increases. These advanced
features help maximize network availability by increasing uptime, as do hot-swap and
simple-swap SATA HDDs; hot-swap/redundant SAS HDDs, redundant ultra-efficient
power supplies; integrated RAID; redundant power
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; IPMI 2.0 support, including highly
secure remote power control and Serial over LAN; as well as text-console redirect over
LAN.
Another improvement with the new generation of X-Architecture is the replacement of legacy
BIOS with next-generation United Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). UEFI provides a
more intuitive user interface and understandable event logs and better management.
With the inclusion of unique IBM service and support features such as the IMM, IBM
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Using RDIMMS.
2
GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes and TB equals 1,000,000,000,000 bytes when referring to hard disk drive capacity. Accessible
capacity may be less.
3
A second high-efficiency redundant 430W power supply is available for the x3200 M3. (Model dependant or via CTO.)
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