ARMONK, N.Y. – 18 Nov 2010: IBM said today it scored the highest TPC-C benchmark performance result ever achieved by an 
x86-64 processor-based server. The IBM System x3850 X5 server handled 2,308,099 tpmC (transactions per minute C) at price/performance of $.64 USD / tpmC. (1)
Running on the latest Intel® Xeon® 7500 Series processor, and equipped with IBM’s MAX5 technology, the System x3850 X5 showed a 27% performance boost over HP’s result of 1,807,347 tpmC.(2)
The new result demonstrates the leadership performance that is possible with MAX5, an industry-first technology that decouples memory from the processor allowing memory to be expanded independently of the processor to increase the productivity of a single system. By increasing the memory capacity of the x3850 X5 by 50%, MAX5 allows the system to process more transactions per minute.
The TPC-C benchmark simulates an order-entry environment of a wholesale supplier — entering and delivering orders, recording payments, checking the status of orders, and monitoring the level of stock at the warehouses. TPC-C represents any industry that must manage, sell, or distribute a product or service. Current results show that clients who deploy IBM technology could see more orders entered, faster monitoring, distribution, and delivery.
“IBM’s line of advanced System x servers are designed for a range of high-end applications and workloads, enabling clients to maximize memory, minimize cost, and simplify deployment,” said Alex Yost, vice president, IBM System x and BladeCenter. “With innovations such as MAX5, clients can increase the scalability and performance of their IBM BladeCenter and System x servers beyond the constraints of typical industry-standard servers, which is key for both transaction-intensive workloads and virtualized data centers.”
“Clients understand that maximizing total memory capacity is absolutely critical for realizing the true potential of their hardware and software investments,” said Vic Verola Jr., VP of Sales, for Vicom Computer Services, Inc. “IBM’s unique MAX5 memory scaling technology unlocks the path to optimization and is the ideal platform for today’s high performance and virtualized workloads.”
“This result demonstrates the exceptional scalability and performance available to clients when you combine the power of our latest Intel Xeon 7500 series processors with innovations from IBM such as MAX5,” said Boyd Davis, Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Data Center Group Marketing. “The extended memory capabilities offered by IBM enables the x3850 X5 to achieve new levels of productivity and when coupled with more than 20 new processor reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features form Intel this becomes an excellent platform for clients’ most data-demanding applications.”
(1) IBM System x3850 X5 achieved 2,308,099 tpmC at $ .64 USD / tpmC with availability of 5/20/11. The x3850 X5 was configured with four Intel Xeon X7560 processors at 2.26GHz with 256KB L2 cache per core and 24MB shared L3 cache per processor (4 processors/32 cores/64 threads), DB2 9.7 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SP1). Results referenced are current as of November 16, 2010. To view all TPC results, visit www.tpc.org. TPC, TPC Benchmark, TPC-C and tpmC are trademarks of the Transaction Processing Performance Council.
(2) HP ProLiant DL580 G7 with the Intel Xeon Processor X7560 at 2.26GHz (4 processors/32 cores/64 threads), Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise x64 Edition SP3, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition; 1,807,347 tpmC, $ .49 USD per tpmC, Availability Date of 10/15/10.
*Source: IBM