IBM Power 9 (E950)

The following features are available on the IBM Power System E950 server:

• The IBM Power System E950 server supports 16 to 48 processor cores with two to four POWER9 processor modules:
  • 8-core processor modules provide up to 32 cores per system typical 3.6 - 3.8 GHz (max).
  • 10-core processor modules provide up to 40 cores per system typical 3.4 - 3.8 GHz (max).
  • 11-core processor modules provide up to 44 cores per system typical 3.2 - 3.8 GHz (max).
  • 12-core processor modules provide up to 48 cores per system typical 3.15 - 3.8 GHz (max).
• 128 GB - 16 TB high-performance DDR4 memory with L4 cache:
  • 8 GB ISDIMM Memory (#EM6A)
  • 16 GB ISDIMM Memory (#EM6B)
  • 32 GB ISDIMM Memory (#EM6C)
  • 64 GB ISDIMM Memory (#EM6D)
  • 128 GB ISDIMM Memory (#EM6E)
  • Optional Active Memory Expansion (#EMAM)
• Choice of three storage backplane features. Each Power E950 server has eight SFF (2.5 in.) SAS bays for HDDs or SSDs, plus four NVMe 2.5-inch bays. One or two PCIe SAS adapter support these SAS bays. One of these SAS options must be selected:
  • DASD Backplane with no HDD/SDD drive selected. No PCIe SAS adapter is required (#EJ0B)
  • Base DASD backplane together with one SAS PCIe adapter and select SAS drives (#EJBB)
  • Split DASD backplane together with two SAS PCIe adapters and select SAS drive (#EJSB)
• Up to 11 hot-swap PCIe slots in the system unit:
  • Four, six, or eight x16 Gen4 full-height, half-length slots.
  • Two x8 Gen4 full height, half length slots
  • One x8 Gen3 full-height, half-length slot generally is used for an Ethernet adapter
  • With two processor modules, there are seven PCIe slots; with three modules, there are nine PCIe slots; and with four modules, there are eleven PCIe slots in the system unit.
• The PCIe I/O Expansion Drawer (#EMX0) expands the number of full-high, hot-swap slots:
  • Up to two PCIe drawers with two processor modules (maximum 31 slots on the server)
  • Up to four PCIe drawers with four processor modules (maximum 51 slots on the server)
• Up to 64 EXP24SX SFF (#ESLS) or EXP12SX LFF (#ESLL) Drawers can be attached, providing up to 1,536 SAS bays for disks or SSDs.
• System unit I/O (integrated I/O)
  • USB ports: four 3.0 (two front) for general use and 2.0 (rear) for limited use
  • HMC ports: two 1 GbE RJ45
  • System (serial) port: one RJ45
• Four hot-plug and redundant power supplies 2000 W (200 - 240 V AC) (#EB3M)
• System unit only 4U in a 19-inch rack-mount hardware
• Primary operating systems:
  • AIX (#2146) (small-tier licensing)
  • Linux (#2147): RHEL, SLES, and Ubuntu

Processor modules

• The Power E950 server supports 16 to 48 processor cores:
  • 8-core typical 3.6 - 3.8 GHz (max) #EPWR POWER9 Processor
  • 10-core typical 3.4 - 3.8 GHz (max) #EPWS POWER9 Processor
  • 11-core typical 3.2 - 3.8 GHz (max) #EPWY POWER9 Processor
  • 12-core typical 3.15 - 3.8 GHz (max) #EPWT POWER9 Processor
• A minimum of two and a maximum of four processor modules are required for each system. The modules can be added to a system at a later time through an MES order, but will require scheduled downtime to install. All processor modules in one server must be the same gigahertz (same processor module feature number). They cannot be mixed.
• Permanent CoD processor core activations are required for the first processor module in the configuration and are optional for the second and fourth modules. Specifically:
  • Two or four 8-core, typical 3.6 - 3.8 GHz (max) processor modules (#EPWR) require eight processor core activations (#EPWV) at a minimum.
  • Two or four 10-core, typical 3.4 - 3.8 GHz (max) processor modules (#EPWS) require ten processor core activations (#EPWW) at a minimum.
  • Two or four 11-core, typical 3.2 - 3.8 GHz (max) processor modules (#EPWY) require eleven processor core activations (#EPN3) at a minimum.
  • Two or four 12-core, typical 3.15 - 3.8 GHz (max) processor modules (#EPWT) require twelve processor core activations (#EPWX) at a minimum.
• Temporary CoD capabilities are optionally used for processor cores that are not permanently activated:
  • 90 Days Elastic CoD Processor Core Enablement (#EP9T).
  • 1 and 100 Processor Day Elastic CoD billing for #EPWR (#EPN0, #EPN1).
  • 1 and 100 Processor Day Elastic CoD billing for #EPWS (#EPN5, #EPN6).
  • 1 and 100 Processor Day Elastic CoD billing for #EPWY (#EPN8, #EPN9).
  • 1 and 100 Processor Day Elastic CoD billing for #EPWT (#EPNK, #EPNL).
  • 100 Processor-minutes Utility CoD billing: for #EPWR (#EPN2), for #EPWS (#EPN7), for #EPWY (#EPNN) or for #EPWT (#EPNM).
  • An HMC is required for temporary CoD.