Chapter 2. Architecture and technical overview
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2.1.6 processor and Intelligent Energy
Energy consumption is an important area of focus for the design of the processor,
which includes Intelligent Energy features that help to dynamically optimize energy usage and
performance so that the best possible balance is maintained. Intelligent Energy features, such
as EnergyScale, work with IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager™ to dynamically
optimize processor speed based on thermal conditions and system utilization.
2.1.7 Comparison of the , POWER7, and POWER6 processors
Table 2-2 shows comparable characteristics between the generations of ,
POWER7, and POWER6 processors.
Table 2-2 Comparison of technology for the processor and the prior generation
2.2 processor card
The processors in the Power 750 and Power 760 are packaged as dual chip
modules (DCMs). Each DCM consists of two processors. DCMs installed in a
Power 750 server consist of two 4-core chips. DCMs installed in the Power 760 server consist
of two 6-core chips.
The Power 750 and Power 760 can host one, two, three, or four DCMs. Each DCM can
address 16 DDR3 memory DIMM slots.
Characteristic
POWER7
POWER6
Technology
32 nm
45 nm
65 nm
Die size
567 mm
2
567 mm
2
341 mm
2
Maximum cores
8
8
2
Maximum SMT
threads per core
4 threads
4 threads
2 threads
Maximum frequency
4.3 GHz
4.25 GHz
5.0 GHz
L2 Cache
256 KB per core
256 KB per core
4 MB per core
L3 Cache
10 MB of FLR-L3 cache
per core with each core
having access to the full
80 MB of L3 cache,
on-chip eDRAM
4 MB or 8 MB of FLR-L3
cache per core with each
core having access to
the full 32 MB of L3
cache, on-chip eDRAM
32 MB off-chip eDRAM
ASIC
Memory support
DDR3
DDR3
DDR2
I/O bus
Two GX++
Two GX++
One GX++
Enhanced cache
mode (TurboCore)
No
Yes
a
a. Only supported on the Power 795.
No
Note: All processors in the system must be the same frequency and have the
same number of processor cores. processor types cannot be mixed within a
system.
