Dell PowerEdge 6400 User Manual
Page 31
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Introduction: Dell™ PowerEdge™ 6400 Systems User's Guide
Overview
The Dell PowerEdge 6400 system, which supports up to four Intel
® Pentium® III Xeon™ microprocessors (and future generation Intel
microprocessors), is a feature-rich, enterprise class server that offers the highest performance, availability, scalability, manageability, and
investment protection features. The PowerEdge 6400 system provides a robust, reliable, rack-optimized platform on which large corporate
customers can deploy their mission critical applications.
This section describes the major hardware and software features of the computer system, provides information about the indicators and controls
on the system's front panel, and discusses connecting external devices to the system.
System Features
The PowerEdge 6400 systems offer the following major features:
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One to four Intel Pentium III Xeon processors with an internal operating frequency of 550 megahertz (MHz) and an external bus speed of 100
MHz.
The Pentium III Xeon processor includes MMX™ technology designed to handle complex multimedia and communications software. This
processor incorporates new instructions and data types as well as a technique called single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) that allows the
processor to process multiple data elements in parallel, thereby improving overall system performance.
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A secondary (L2) cache of 512 kilobytes (KB), 1 megabyte (MB), or 2 MB of static random-access memory (SRAM) is included within the
single-edge contact (SEC) cartridge that contains the processor. Math coprocessor functionality is internal to the processor.
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Support for symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) is available by installing up to three more Pentium III Xeon processors. SMP greatly improves
overall system performance by dividing processor operations among the independent processors. To take advantage of this feature, you
must use an operating system that supports multiprocessing, such as Microsoft
® Windows NT® 4.0 or Novell® NetWare® 4.2 (and later
versions of both).
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A minimum of 256 MB of system memory, upgradable to a maximum of 8 gigabytes (GB) by installing combinations of 64-, 128-, 256-, and
512-MB synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) in the 16 dual in-line memory module (DIMM) sockets on the memory board.
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A basic input/output system (BIOS) that resides in flash memory on the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus and can be upgraded if
required.
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Three small computer system interface (SCSI) backplane options:
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A six-slot SCSI backplane board allows the option of six hot-pluggable, 1- or 1.6-inch SCSI hard-disk drives.
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An eight-slot SCSI backplane board allows for eight hot-pluggable, 1-inch SCSI hard-disk drives. (This backplane board can be
configured as a 2 x 4 split backplane for internal duplexing of hard-disk drives).
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A two-slot backplane board allows for two optional, hot-pluggable, 1-inch drives that can be installed in the removable media bay.
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Three redundant, hot-pluggable power supplies and power-supply paralleling board (PSPB).
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Five redundant system cooling fans.
The system board includes the following integrated features:
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Seven PCI connectors; two 64-bit 66 MHz, four 64-
bit 33 MHz, and one 32-bit 33 MHz.
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A video graphics array (VGA)-compatible video subsystem with an ATI Rage IIc super VGA (SVGA) video controller. This video subsystem
contains 4 MB of synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM) video memory (nonupgradable). Maximum resolutions are 1024 x 768 with 256
Preventing Unauthorized Access Inside the System
NOTE: If you decide to upgrade your system by installing additional processors, you must order processor upgrade kits from
Dell. Not all versions of the Pentium III Xeon processor will work properly as additional processors. The upgrade kit from Dell
contains the correct version of the processor for use as an additional processor, as well as instructions for performing the
upgrade. The additional processors must have the same internal operating frequency as the initial processors.
NOTE: A minimum of two power supplies are needed to run the system.