ZX1 vs ZX2

[Fayez]

Hi all,
What I need is to know the major differences between zx1 chipset and the zx2.
also I want to know if the mx2 daughter board supported by zx1 or not??

Thanks.....

[Torsten.]

Some infos about zx1:

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/81326-0-0-225-121.html

White paper for zx2:

http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/c00767228.pdf

Most new servers can still use the mx2, check

http://www.hp.com/go/Integrity

[rick jones]

zx2 supports PCIe and/or PCI-X 2.0 I/O slots. It also supports somewhat faster memory IIRC.

The zx2 systems get newer firmware with support for stuff like direct lan boot (dbprofile - network boot without need of a DHCP server) although some of the "not so old" zx1 systems may have a firmware upgrade to get that.

I'm surprised we would be "supporting" mx2 CPU modules in zx2 or sx2000 - for those systems there is the Itanium2 9000 series (aka Montecito) which is a much superior solution to multiple cores in a socket than mx2.

Modulo firmware pieces, it could be that an mx2 would "work" but I'm surprised it would be "supported."

[Sameer_Nirmal · Accepted solution]

Some of the major difference between zx1 and zx2 chipsets are

IO bandwidth : zx1 - 4GB/s
zx2 - 8-10GB/s

Frontside Bus BW : zx1 - 6.4GB/s - 8.5GB/s
zx2 - 8.5GB/s - 10.6GB/s

Memory technology - zx1 - DDR 266
zx2 - DDR 444/533

Memory capacity - zx1 - 256GB
zx2 - 768GB

Memory scrubber - zx1 - software based
zx2 - hardware based

zx2 chipset support dual-core Intel® Itanium 2 processors (â Montecitoâ ) and provide a foundation for future Itanium 2 processors a.k.a. â Montvaleâ .

zx2 chipset offers advanced RAS capabilities as mentioned at http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/c00767235.pdf

zx2 chipset does provide the Trusted Platforms Module (TPM) - product number AB404A as an accessory option. Refer quickspecs at http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/12596_div/12596_div.HTML

For detailed information about differences, refer the documents given by Torsten.

zx1 chipset does support mx2 processor modules on platforms like rx4640 etc.

[Fayez]

Thanks for all,

Your replay was very useful.
But Sameer, you mentioned that zx2 support dual core,
but from hp site the old servers rx2620 and rx4640 based on zx1 supports the dual core technology too.

[rick jones]

Indeed, the Montecito CPU is supported on some zx1-based systems. Montecito is (IMO) much much better than mx2.

[Sameer_Nirmal]

Yes, you are right there. As a matter of fact, it's good and usual strategy of HP to protect customers investment. zx1 chipset was designed to support Itanium 2 processors like "McKinley" initially with furure support for "Madison" and "Montecito".

However looking at the techincal advancements/improvements in the design of zx2 chipset, you would see the power of Itanium 2 Montecito processor is really unleashed with equally powerful IO chipset zx2.

[Torsten.]

It is sometimes a bit complicated to differ all the naming.
All new zx2 systems are running with Montecito CPUs, even with single core (named Single-core Intel Itanium 2 processor 1.6 GHz/6 MB) - see
http://h20341.www2.hp.com/integrity/cache/331424-0-0-0-121.html

The predecessors with zx1 are able to use newest (with current firmware) and even older CPUs.

For the larger systems with zx2000 it is different again. The zx2000 ( http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/downloads/4AA0-4077ENW.pdf ) supports even older Itanium2 CPUs and even the PA-RISC (e.g. rp7440).

[Fayez]

Thanks again for all,
It was a helpful discussion here
and I wish the best for all of you..

Thanks again...