Technologies for the ProLiant ML570 G3 and ProLiant DL580 G3 Servers Technology Brief

After the server is shipped to the customer, HP provides Pre-Failure Warranty support standard on all
ProLiant servers. HP Systems Insight Manager notifies the administrator when a critical component
may fail. During the warranty period, the Pre-Failure Warranty covers the replacement of DIMMs used
in a server’s main memory when the predefined thresholds for correctable errors have been
exceeded. The Pre-Failure Warranty provides for the components to be replaced free of charge under
the warranty. With the Pre-Failure Warranty, system administrators can proactively schedule
downtime for maintenance and not interrupt critical business operations that rely on these enterprise
servers.
Architecture trade-offs with a large memory footprint
The three most recent ProLiant 500-series servers — the ProLiant ML570 G3, ProLiant DL580 G3, and
the ProLiant DL585 — all have large memory footprints and high performance architectures (Table 2).
Because they use fundamentally different architectures, however, there are tradeoffs that customers
should understand when evaluating the three servers.
Table 2. Memory and architecture comparison of ProLiant 500-series servers.
Server Processor Architecture Max. memory
support
Memory protection
ProLiant ML570 G3
Intel 64-bit Xeon
processor MP
Intel E8500 chipset;
dual 667-MHz front
side bus; DDR-2 400
memory
48 GB with 2-GB
DIMMs;
64 GB with dual-
rank, 4-GB DIMMs
Advanced ECC;
Online Spare;
Mirroring; Hot Plug
RAID
ProLiant DL 580 G3
Intel 64-bit Xeon
processor MP
Intel E8500 chipset;
dual 667-MHz front
side bus; DDR-2 400
memory
32 GB with 2-GB
DIMMs;
64 GB with dual-
rank, 4-GB DIMMs
Advanced ECC;
Online Spare;
Mirroring; Hot Plug
RAID
ProLiant DL585
AMD Opteron 800-
series processor
AMD 8000 chipset;
HyperTransport 800-
MHz or 1-GHz links;
DDR1 266, 333,
and 400 memory
64 GB with 2-GB
DIMMs
Advanced ECC
Both the ProLiant ML570 and the DL580 G3 provide the performance of the latest Intel processor with
dual front-side buses and 64-bit extensions. In addition, these servers offer advanced memory
protection — important, for example, with customers in a 24x7 business that cannot afford any
uncorrectable memory errors that might bring down applications or must have their servers operating
at all times without any downtime for replacing or upgrading memory.
The ProLiant DL585 has proven its industry-leading performance since its announcement, and with the
announcement of dual-core Opteron processors, will provide even greater performance.
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The high
level of performance is due to its architecture using memory controllers integrated into the processor
die, fast HyperTransport links, and the ability to use 64 GB of memory. Like the ProLiant ML570 G3
and DL580 G3 servers, the ProLiant DL585 is capable of using 64-bit applications and operating
systems as soon as they are available. The tradeoff for this very fast and scalable performance is that
the ProLiant DL585 provides memory protection with advanced ECC only. Advanced ECC memory,
however, should not be dismissed as insufficient. It is the standard memory protection technique within
the x86 server market, and provides ample protection for the majority of customers.
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See the HP website at http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/benchmarks/ for benchmark performance information.
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