HP BL460C Blade Server Teardown

Overview / Main Features

Intel Xeon 5x00 Sequence processor-based (dual and quad-core) 1U "double-density (2 independent processors) blade server from HP. Supports Intel Xeon processors of a max 3.16 GHz speed, with a max front side bus speed of 1333 MHz. The BL460c supports up to 64GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 FB-DIMMs. The server supports two HDDs (hot pluggable) SFF SAS or SFF SATA. There are expansion slots for to ""2 mezzanine choices: Multifunction NICsor standard NICs, 4Gb FC or Ethernet, 10GbE or Infiniband", and also has a Smart Array E200i controller. The BL460c also provides a dual-port Fibre Channel Adapter option.

Per HP: "With features equal to standard 1U rack mount servers, the 2 processor, multi-core BL460c continues to combine power-efficient compute power and high density with expanded memory and I/O for maximum performance. Now with the latest L5200 series Low Voltage Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors, newly expanded memory footprint up to 64GB, optional Serial Attached SAS or SATA hard drives, support of Multi-Function NICS and multiple I/O cards, the BL460c continues to provide a performance system ideal for the full range of scale out applications. In this small form factor, the BL460c also continues to include more features to ensure high-availability such as optional hot-plug hard drives, mirrored-memory, online spare memory, memory interleaving, embedded RAID capability, and enhanced remote Lights-Out management. The BladeSystem c7000 enclosure supports up to 16 BL460c server blades, 2 more servers than the IBM BladeCenter and each BL460 supports double the memory capacity of the HS21 server without their expansion blade."

HP BL460C Blade Server Main Image

Enterprise users.

Released

c-Class portfolio (BL460c and BL480c) announced in June 2006 for release July of that year.

HP BL460C Blade Server - Motherboard Top

Pricing - Will vary based on configuration. However, for the configuration we received (with no drives included) the blade server ranges from about $2100 to $2300 from various IT equipment channels and online e-tailors at the time of writing (July 2008).

Availability - Assumed to have global availability.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed a lifetime production volume of 150K units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

HP BL460C Blade Server - Motherboard Bottom

iSuppli expects strong unit shipment growth overall in the server area for the foreseeable future according to a recent topical report, with combined worldwide sales approaching 8.6 million units in 2007 (growing 8.4% to roughly 9.3 million in 2008, or a CAGR of 7.4% from 2006 to 2011 for the whole server market). Specifically for blade servers, iSuppli projects that this category will grow at a significantly faster CAGR of 31.5% from 2006 to 2011 spurn on by the popularity of server virtualization technologies as well as the overall form factor efficiencies of the blade server format.

HP BL460C Blade Server Cost Analysis

Major Cost Drivers (Representing ~85.4% of Total Direct Materials Costs)

Intel - HH80556KH0254M - CPU - Intel Xeon Processor 5110, Dual Core, 1.6GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz, 65nm Process

Qimonda - HYS72T64400EFA-3S-B2 - DIMM DDR2 - Fully-Buffered, 512MB, 64Mx72, 667MHz (Qty:2)

Broadcom - BCM5708SKFB - Ethernet Controller - 10/100/1000/2500Base-X, Integrated TCP Processing Engine, RDMA, iSCSI (Qty:2)

Intel - NQ5000P - Northbridge - Memory Controller Hub

Boardtek Electronics - 16-Layer - FR4

Intel - NQ6311 - Southbridge - I/O Controller Hub

Broadcom - BCM8603KPB - I/O Controller - 8-Port SAS/SATA II, PCI Express/PCI-X Interface, Integrated Raid-On-Chip Technology

Altera - EPM1270F256C5 - CPLD - 1270 Gates, 212 I/O Pins (Qty:2)

AMD - ES1000 - GPU - 2D, 200MHz Core, 32-Bit 33/66MHz PCI 2.2, 16-Bit 256MB DDR-II SDRAM Support, Dual CRT Support

Enclosure / Cage - Stamped / Formed Paint-Loc Steel, 6 Pieces, Pressed, w/ 14 Pressed-In Studs, 4 Pressed-In Threaded Inserts, & 1 Spring Steel Tab

HP - 353821-004 - Lights-Out Management Processor

CPU Cooler / Heatsink Assembly - Die-Cast Copper Block, w/ Copper Fins, 4 Captive Screws, & Thermal Transfer Material

Delta Electronics - D12S05030-1 A - Point of Load Module - DC-DC Converter, Input: 10.8V-13.2V, Output: 0.9V-5.1V, 150W (Qty:2)

Front Panel / Hard Drive Cage - Stamped / Formed Paint-Loc Steel, 4 Pieces, Pressed, Painted, w/ 2 Copper Spring Tabs, 4 Pressed-In Studs, 1 Captive Screw, & 2 PEMs

FCI - 10054783-001 - Mezzanine Board to Board Header - Vertical, High Profile

FCI - 55737-001 - Mezzanine Board to Board Header - Vertical

Chemi-Con - Electrolytic - 16V, 100uF (Qty:4)

Delta Electronics - D12S3R310 A - Point of Load Module - DC-DC Converter, Input: 4.5V-13.2V, Output: 0.7V-5.0V, 50W Max (Qty:3)

Point of Load Module - DC-DC Converter

Molex - 75360-0018 - Backplane Connector

Foxconn - PE0771xx-1041-01 - CPU Socket - LGA, w/ Lock (Qty:2)

Point of Load Module - DC-DC Converter, Input: 12V

Boardtek Electronics - 6-Layer - FR4

International Rectifier - IR3086AM - Power Controller - XPhase Phase IC, w/ OVP, Fault and Overtemp Detect (Qty:10)

Micron Technology - MT46V16M16P-5B - SDRAM - DDR, 256Mb (16Mx16), 2.5V (Qty:3)

Texas Instruments - PTH04070WAZ - Point of Load Module - DC-DC Coverter, Switching, Adjustable, 3A, 3.3/5V Input (Qty:2)

Enclosure / Cage Top Cover - Stamped / Formed Paint-Loc Steel, w/ 2 Pressed-In Studs

Vishay - Dale - CSM3637 - Precision SMD - Current Sense, 3mOhms, 3W, 1% (Qty:3)

International Rectifier - IRF6620 - MOSFET - DirectFET, N-Channel, 20V, 150A (Qty:10)

Backplane Power Socket - w/ 2 Discrete 10AWG Wires

International Rectifier - IRF6617 - MOSFET - DirectFET, N-Channel, 30V, 55A (Qty:10)

Amphenol - 470-1235-100 - Mezzanine Board to Board - Receptacle, High Profile

Insulator - Lexan Polycarbonate, Die-Cut, w/ PSA

SMSC - SCH4307-NS - I/O Controller - Super I/O Device, w/ LPC Interface

Materials and Manufacturing $627.15

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

OEM/ODM/EMS Relationships / Manufacturing

Per iSuppli's own Global OEM Manufacturing and Design Analysis (GOMDA) report (Q2, 2008) HP outsources nearly 80% of servers to EMS providers and ODMs (the latter representing nearly 60% of the HP server business overall). Most of HP servers outsourced to ODMs are to Inventec with over 40% of overall share of servers shipped. This unit claims, per it's labeling to be made in the US of foreign components - so this may still encompass the motherboard itself, which we are assuming is made in China for this analysis.

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on markings, it is assumed the unit was assembled in the USA. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc. were sourced in China. Other subsystems or modules found in this analysis (DIMM modules, for example) are listed in the overview section with their corresponding countries of origin, however, keep in mind that in such cases, it is only the country in which the high level integration occurs (USA in this case), that will be accounted for in terms of assembly costs.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as DIMM modules), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. ""Auto" inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pin count of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

HP BL460C Blade Server - Block Diagram

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The HP ProLiant BL460c blade server has a component count of 4244 excluding box contents (196 of which are mechanical in nature). Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design.

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

Here is a summary of the major subsystems and components in the HP ProLiant BL460c blade sever:

Motherboard

CPU

CPU - Intel Xeon Processor 5110, Dual Core, 1.6GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz, 65nm Process - Intel - HH80556KH0254M

Chipset

Northbridge - Memory Controller Hub - Intel - NQ5000P

Southbridge - I/O Controller Hub - Intel - NQ6311

GPU

GPU - 2D, 200MHz Core, 32-Bit 33/66MHz PCI 2.2, 16-Bit 256MB DDR-II SDRAM Support, Dual CRT Support - AMD - ES1000

Memory

SDRAM - DDR, 128Mb (1Mx4x32), 3.3V - Winbond - W9812G2GH-6

SDRAM - DDR, 256Mb (16Mx16), 2.5V - Micron Technology - MT46V16M16P-5B

Flash - 32Mb, 3V, 90ns - Macronix - MX29LV320CTTI - (Qty: 2)

DIMM

2 - Qimonda - HYS72T64400EFA-3S-B2 - DDR2 - Fully-Buffered, 512MB, 64Mx72, 667MHz

I/O

Ethernet Controller - 1000/2500Base-X, Integrated TCP Procssing Engine, RDMA, iSCSI - Broadcom - BCM5708S

I/O Controller - SMSC - SCH4307-NS

Output Buffer - 8 Output, Differential, for PCI Express - IDT - ICS9DB801BGLF

Ethernet Transceiver - Single Channel, 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX/100BASE-EFX - Broadcom - BCM5241

SATA/SAS Daughter Board

I/O Controller - Broadcom - BCM8603KPB

Other

CPLD - 1270 Gates, 212 I/O Pins - Altera - EPM1270F256C5

Hard Drives / Optical Drives

None included with this server

HP BL460C Blade Server - Box Contents