Intel Corp (INTC)

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Fin, <How well is the hypertransport working for multi-processor systems? I saw one analysis that indicated that HT would lead to data transfer bottlenecks and wouldn't scale well. The same analysis also implied that maximum memory could only be expanded by expanding the number of processors.>

My opinion is that HyperTransport has more than enough bandwidth to spare. The key is the network (a ring topology in AMD's 4P platform) of links, which along with the multiple memory interfaces spread the bandwidth around. Unlike the FSB topology that Intel uses, the network of HyperTransport links poses no single bottleneck.

And yes, a 4P system with only one processor in it will have 1/4 the maximum memory as compared to a system with all four processors. This isn't a big concern because you wouldn't want to max the memory on a server, but not the processors. Well, maybe you would, but the option isn't crucial in my mind.

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