May 12, 2022
System overview – Introduction to Power E1080
1.1 System overview
The Power E1080, also referred to by its 9080-HEX machine type-model designation, represents the most powerful and scalable server in the IBM Power portfolio. It is comprised of a combination of CEC enclosures that are called nodes (or system nodes) and more units and drawers.
1.1.1 System nodes, processors, and memory
In this section, we provide a general overview of the system nodes, processors, and memory. For more information about the system nodes, see 1.2, “System nodes” on page 6.
A system node is an enclosure that provides the connections and supporting electronics to connect the processor with the memory, internal disk, adapters, and the interconnects that are required for expansion.
A combination of one, two, three, or four system nodes per server is supported.
Each system node provides four sockets for Power10 processor chips and 64 differential DIMM (DDIMM) slots for Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4) technology DIMMs.
Each socket holds one Power10 single chip module (SCM). An SCM can contain 10, 12, or 15 Power10 processor cores. It also holds the extra infrastructure logic to provide electric power and data connectivity to Power10 processor chip.
The processor configuration of a system node is defined by the selected processor feature. Each feature defines a set of four Power10 processors chips with the same core density (10, 12, or 15).
A 4-node Power E1080 server scales up to 16 processor sockets and 160, 192, or 240 cores, depending on the number of cores provided by the configured SCM type.
All system nodes with a Power E1080 server must be configured with the same processor feature.
Each system node can support up to a maximum of 16 TB of system memory by using the largest available memory DIMM density. A fully configured 4-node Power E1080 can support up to 64 TB of memory.
To support internal boot capability, each system node enables the use of up to four non-volatile memory express (NVMe) drive bays. More drive bays are provided through expansion drawers.
Each system node provides eight Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) Gen 5 capable slots, with a maximum of 32 per Power E1080 server.
Any one-, two-, three-, or four-system node configuration requires the system control unit (SCU) to operate. The SCU provides system hardware, firmware, and virtualization control through redundant Flexible Service Processors (FSPs). Only one SCU is required and supported for every Power E1080 server. For more information about the system control unit, see 1.3, “System control unit” on page 10.
For more information about the environmental and physical aspects of the server, see 1.4, “Server specifications” on page 11.
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