Dell Targets HPC With PowerEdge C6145 Server

Dell6145

The Dell C6145 server, a 2U unit optimized for high-performance computing.

Dell today announced new products from its Data Center Solutions (DCS) division, which is leveraging its experience building custom servers for the largest cloud computing providers and adapting those innovations into its PowerEdge C line of servers. The latest example is the PowerEdge C6145, a new many-core server targeting the high-performance computing (HPC) market. Dell also updates 17 existing its PowerEdge servers to feature new processor offerings from AMD (Opteron 6000) and Intel (Xeon 5600).

The PowerEdge C6145 is a 2U server offering up to 96 cores of processing power, designed for HPC applications, video rendering, virtualization, and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) workloads requiring high core counts, memory density and expanded I/O capabilities. The C6145 features the AMD Opteron 6000, available in two independent 4-socket server nodes, allowing users to cale up to 96 cores and up to 1 terabyte of memory.

The 2U is a favored form factor for many HPC customers, according to Armando Acosta, product manager for Dell PowerEdge, who said the new AMD processor offers the ability to leverage more cores and memory in massively parallel applications. The C6145 is based on feedback from HPC customers, Acosta said, and optimized for research applications life sciences and medical imaging and oil and gas exploration.

High Computing Power, Low Power Usage

Perhaps most importantly, Dell says the PowerEdge C6145 offers major advances in energy efficiency for customers seeking to manage high-density thermal footprints. Its power draw ranges from 845 watts to 1,900 watts per chassis, based on the configuration. Acosta said this allows the C6145 to compare favorably with competitor offerings that require up to 8u of rack space.

"If you add more cores, you have to balance how much energy you use," said Acosta, who said advances in low-power processors are providing major benefits for customers. "We love the competition between Intel and AMD, and the way they're pushing one another on core counts and frequencies."

In other moves to leverage new processors, Dell is offering the new Intel Xeon 5600 series processors across its entire line of two-socket PowerEdge servers, including two blade servers (M610, M710, M610X and M710HD blades), seven rack servers (R710, R610, R510, R410, C1100, C2100, C6100) and three tower servers (T710, T610, T410). Dell is also offering the latest AMD Opteron 6000 processors with its PowerEdge R715 and R815 servers as well as the PowerEdge C6145.

"These powerful new server technologies help customers to do more with less and achieve better business results," said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager, Server Platforms, Dell. "PowerEdge servers help improve business productivity while prioritizing technology spending within decreasing budgets. The workload these systems can handle is unprecedented."

The PowerEdge C6145 recently set a new performance record for 2U servers and more than doubled the previous record for SPECfp_rate6006 performance in a 2U server. AMD server product marketing manager Andy Parma reviewed all of the benchmarks in a recent blog post. Here's a video of Parma and Acosta previewing the C6145: