[scrumper]

You can find out in this impenetrable, 500 page technical guide here: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpieces/pdfs/sg248451.pdf

It contains crystalline prose like this, something all technical manuals should aspire to:

"Digital technologies are driving major industry shifts, ushering in a new age. In the Cognitive EraTM1, it is either disrupting or being disrupted. Tomorrow’s disrupters will be organizations that can converge digital business with a new level of digital intelligence. A key in digital transformation is the ability to accelerate the innovation of new business (Internet of Things, Cognitive, and Virtual Reality), while keeping complexity in check."

The answer to your question, by the way, appears to be 'very'. You can have lots of processors and 32TB of RAM.

[bridanp]

170 different cores to choose from. Not sure how they go about determining capacity on a first-time shop, but ongoing installations looking to upgrade base the capacity on the new box against their growth rate and plan accordingly for however long they expect the new mainframe to be on the production floor.

[scrumper]

170 different types of core? Sounds like a nightmare for a new customer, conversely a bit of a dream for the mainframe sales team.