IBM System x3755 M3 review

IBM’s latest System x3755 M3 is its first rack server to support AMD’s Opteron 6100 processors. It’s taken a very long time to materialise and in this exclusive review we tell you whether it’s a better bet than the four-socket AMD servers from HP and Dell.

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IT Pro Verdict

IBM’s new x3755 M3 brings together a fine combination of high processing density and low power consumption. It's well-made and well-designed with very good power redundancy for a 2U rack server. It doesn’t support SFF hard disks but IBM’s crafty design means it can pack in eight hot-swap 3.5in drives giving it great internal storage capacity.It can’t match the low price of Dell’s PowerEdge R815 or HP’s DL585 G7 for expansion potential, but its lower power consumption makes it a fine server that's well worth the price premium.

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The IBM System x3755 M3
The IBM System x3755 M3

The IBM System x3755 M3

Whereas Dell and HP were quick to see the benefits of AMD's Opteron 6100 server processors it's taken a lot longer for IBM to catch on. Big Blue's first four-socket 6100 server is finally out the door and IBM has granted ITPRO exclusive access to the first review sample in the UK.

The System x3755 M3 uses a 2U chassis so it matches the rack cabinet processing density of Dell's 2U PowerEdge R815. Its low profile also makes it more compact than HP's 4U ProLiant DL585 G7.

IBM has clearly prioritised storage capacity as, unlike Dell's and HP's servers, the x3755 doesn't support 2.5in SFF hard disks. There's room at the front for eight standard 3.5in disks allowing capacity to be pushed to 16TB using 2TB SATA models.

IBM also offers 2TB near-line SAS drives or you can go for 600GB 15k SAS drives if performance is more important than capacity. The server doesn't have an embedded disk controller so our review system came with IBM's base ServeRAID M1015 PCI Express SAS card.

This eight-port card supports mirrors and stripes and can be upgraded to RAID 5 capabilities. Alternatively, you can specify an M5015 card which supports all these RAID arrays, has 512MB of cache memory plus battery backup and can be upgraded to handle dual-drive redundant RAID-6 arrays.

The price of the review system includes four 2.1GHz 12-core Opteron 6172 chips which have a TDP rating of 115W. Memory support is a lot less confusing that that provided by the 5500 and 5600 Xeons as all Opteron 6100s support 1333MHz memory. The server has eight DIMM slots per processor and supports up to 512GB using 16GB RDIMM modules. A 128GB limit applies if you use lower-cost UDIMM memory modules.

Dave Mitchell
Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.