[NTLUG:Discuss] Sun ships single Opteron with AGPx8 and 4 PCI-X busses! -- WAS: HDTV card for Linux

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Wed, 2004-09-08 at 04:23, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Until PCI-Express comes out, I agree.  It's not worth the cost to get
> 0.5GBps+ PCI/PCI-X.

Sorry to introduce a tangent, but a vendor has _finally_ shipped a
single Opteron platform with _true_ multiple PCI busses starting under
$2K for Socket-940 starting with the Opteron 144 (1.8GHz, 1MB L2) upto
the latest 150 (2.4GHz, 1MB L2).  In all offerings prior, the _minimal_
setup I've seen with the AMD8131 (dual-PCI-X) chip was a dual-Opteron
mainboard starting at $450+ -- ouch!

Ironically, it's Sun Microsystems:  
  http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/w1100z/datasheet.pdf  

- (4) PCI busses ... how?

The Sun Java Workstation W1100z has 4 PCI busses, which leaves me
perplexed on what HyperTransport tunnel/bridge chips they are using. 
Normally the AMD8151+AMD8131/AMD8132+AMD8111 combination will only give
you (1) AGP 3.0 (8x), (2) PCI-X 1.0/2.0 (8131/8132) and (1) PCI/Legacy
PC.

Especially given the fact that there is (1) PCI-X 133MHz slot, and (2x2)
PCI-X 100MHz slots -- that's (3) PCI-X channels right there, plus all
the on-board peripherals (another PCI-X/Legacy PCI -- bridged?). 
Normally that wouldn't be possible even with the "maxed out"
AMD8000-series configuration.  Furthermore, it's shipping with (5) USB
2.0 ports, and the AMD8111 only offers USB 1.1, so it's likely it's
another chipset.

- Proof is in the architectural document:  dual-AMD8131 chips!

But then I checked the architectural document:  
  http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/w1100z/arch-wp.pdf  

Looking at pages 9+ in the architecture guide -- sure enough --- it's
the AMD8000 series.  How do they do it?  They put (2) AMD8131 chips
on-board!  Wow!  That's _true_ (4) PCI-X channels -- _plus_ the (1)
PCI/Legacy PC in the AMD8111 _and_ (1) AGP 3.0 (x8) slot.  Then they add
their own IEEE1394, SerialATA, USB 2.0 and Ultra320 peripherial chips
too.  Not bad for a $1,995 base system!  Wow!

Man, Sun's single processor Opteron _blows_away_ most _quad_ Opteron
designs!  And it _equals_ the HP Proliant DL585 quad-Opteron which
starts at $10,000+ (for just 2 CPUs).  And it's got all the "goodies" of
the "latest'n greatest" systems.

- Modular HyperTransport connector = future upgrading!

It gets even better!  Looking through the pages, you'll note this
"E-connector."  Looking closer, you'll note the mainboard is actually
_two_ mainboards, in a single ATX form-factor.  What what's all that?

The "top" portion has (1) AMD8131 (dual-PCI-X) and (1) AMD8111
(PCI+LegacyPC) with most of the peripherials (IEEE1394, USB 2.0,
SerialATA) and (2) PCI-X slots (1 @ 133MHz, 1 @ 100MHz w/2nd master
being used by the Broadcom GbE).

The "bottom" has the (1) AMD8151 (AGP 3.0) and (1) AMD8131 (dual-PCI-X)
with (3) PCI-X slots (2 @ 100MHz, 1 @ 100MHz w/2nd master being used by
the Ultra320).

The bottom can be _replaced_!  Yes, that's a full 32+32 at DDR800 (6.4GBps)
HyperTransport channel that connects the two.  The idea is that when Sun
wants to offer PCI-Express, it can!  Very cool!

This is the ultimate extension of the flexibility HyperTransport offers
engineers.  Glad to see Sun take it as far as it can go!


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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