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The HP Z220 CMT and SFF Workstations are the follow-on generation to the HP Z210 workstations and introduce new functionalities and technologies to the entry workstation class. They feature the Intel® Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 family and next gen Intel Core™ processors, based on the new Intel micro-architecture code-named Ivy Bridge. A substantial increase in I/O bandwidth, performance, and energy efficiency, as well as upgraded ME8 manageability, 1600Mhz memory speed and new integrated USB 3.0 features deliver improved productivity and stability. This paper will describe the architecture features of the Convertible Mini Tower (CMT) version, most of which are available on the Small Form Factor system as well.
New Intel Processor micro-architecture
The HP Z220 supports Intel’s next generation processors, featuring a new micro-architecture in the 22nm process, providing greater compute and integrated graphics performance combined with low energy consumption. Both the latest Quad Core Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v2 series, and the 3rd generation Intel Core processors (dual-core Intel Core™ i3 and selected Intel Core™ i5/i7 processors) are supported. The Intel® C216 PCH (platform controller hub) chipset complements the HP Z220’s core architecture.
New technologies supported with those processors on HP Z220:
• RDRAND Instruction This is one of the new Intel security and cryptography technologies. It comprises a software visible random number generation mechanism, supported by a high quality entropy source that is made available to programmers through the new RDRAND instruction. • Supervisor Mode Execution Protection (SMEP) This new mechanism blocks malicious software attacks from user mode code when the system is running in the highest privilege level. It participates in protecting the system from virus attacks and potentially harmful code.
• Power Aware Interrupt Routing (PAIR) PAIR is an enhanced interrupt management scheme that routes interrupts to threads or cores based on their sleep states. For improved energy savings, a new interrupt will be routed to the active cores without waking the deep idle cores. For improved performance, new interrupts will preferably be routed to the idle cores without interrupting the already heavily loaded cores.
PCI-Express Gen3
The HP Z220 now supports Gen3 PCI-Express speed on the processor’s x16 lanes. PCIe Gen3’s most notable improvement is a higher 8Gb/s bit rate which, combined with a new encoding scheme, effectively doubles the bus throughput over PCIe Gen2’s 5Gb/s bit rate. PCI Gen3 Graphics cards are the primary devices that will take advantage of the increased bandwidth, as and when they become available.
1600MHz DDR3 ECC/nECC DIMM
The HP Z220 supports both DDR3 ECC and non-ECC unbuffered DIMMs, up to 1600MHz speed. 2 channels with 2 DIMMs per channel are supported. Memory will operate at the speed of the slowest rated installed processor or DIMM. The higher memory speed, compared to HP Z210’s 1333MHz speed, provides greater memory performance.
