Chapter TWO. Server Chipsets

Chapter Syllabus

2.1 Original Server Architecture

2.2 Dual Independent Buses

2.3 Bus Mastering

2.4 MIOC Architecture

2.5 Parallel I/O Buses

2.6 Highly Parallel System Architecture

2.7 Crossbar Switch

2.8 ProFusion Chipset

2.9 F8 Chipset

This chapter provides an overview of server chipset innovations. After studying this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

• Define the term chipset and explain how the chipset provides the foundation of a server's architecture.

• Describe the original PC architecture and explain its performance limitations.

• Describe the dual independent bus architecture and explain its performance limitations.

• Explain how bus mastering technology reduced bottlenecks and improved server performance, and describe its performance limitations.

• Describe the memory and I/O controller (MIOC) technology and explain how it reduced memory bottlenecks.

• Describe parallel I/O bus technology and explain how it reduced I/O bottlenecks.

• Describe the highly parallel system architecture, and explain how its dual-memory controller technology reduced system bottlenecks and improved performance.

• Explain how the crossbar switch reduced bottlenecks at the memory and I/O controllers.

• Describe the innovations implemented in the ProFusion chipset and explain the ProFusion architecture.

• Describe the innovations implemented in the F8 chipset architecture, explain its high-bandwidth capabilities, and list its key advantages.

A chipset is a collection of the microchips on a server motherboard that control the features and the functions of the motherboard. The chipset determines how much memory can be installed, which processors can be used, and which types of interfaces the computer can support.

The chipset provides a foundation to the overall architecture of a server. To eliminate bottlenecks and increase performance, the chipset must provide an optimized and balanced architecture.

This chapter explains how chipsets have evolved. This information provides a foundation for our discussion of other server components in later chapters.

Note

Note that several terms introduced in this chapter are further explained in subsequent chapters of this book. It is the old chicken and egg quandary. For the chapters in Part 1 of this book, it will be helpful to read through them a first time, and then cycle back through them before you take the Accredited Integration Specialist (AIS) exam.