Friday, 30 June 2006

Intel Launches Intel Xeon 5100 Processor Range

Semiconductor maker Intel Corp. has launched its latest microprocessor for server computers. The dual-core Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series, previously codenamed ‘woodcrest’ is designed for the high-volume server, workstation, communications, storage and embedded market segments...

Semiconductor maker Intel Corp. has launched its latest microprocessor for server computers. The dual-core Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series, previously codenamed ‘woodcrest’ is designed for the high-volume server, workstation, communications, storage and embedded market segments.

Intel said based on Intel Core Microarchitecture, these processors offer server performance, power efficiency and value.

"Simply put, the Core microarchitecture is a technical marvel that is driving a new era of power efficiency without compromising on what can only be described as eye-popping dual-core 64-bit performance," said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group.

The new dual-core server processors are the first to take advantage of Intel’s Core microarchitecture, a power-sensitive blueprint design that also includes several innovations to dramatically improve performance.

The company claims that the Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5100 series delivers up to 135 percent performance improvements from its top-of-the-line server chips.

In addition it delivers 40 percent reduction in energy consumption over previous Intel server products.

Intel said the combination of power and efficiency will enables equipment manufacturers to optimally balance processing capabilities within power and space constraints of smaller-sized systems that are typical of communications, storage and embedded applications.

Based on Intel’s manufacturing capability and 65-nanometer manufacturing process that further shrinks transistors and power consumption, yet also boosts speed, the 5100 series is 'drop-in compatible' as part of Intel’s 'Bensley Platform' and available across a variety of server product segments.

Intel will ship the 5100 series at frequencies up to 3.0 gigahertz speed and faster 1333 megahertz front side bus and 4 megabytes of shared L2 cache or memory reservoir between both cores. The 3 GHz version will ship with a thermal design point (TDP) of 80 watts with all others rated at just 65W.

An even lower voltage version will ship in the third quarter at 2.33 GHz and a TDP of just 40 watts.

These new processor will be powered by the microarchitecture and also would be the foundation for Intel’s upcoming mobile and desktop products branded as Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

This multicore-optimized architecture would include Intel Wide Dynamic Execution that delivers more instructions per cycle.

The processors also include Intel Advanced Smart Cache that allows one of two processing units – or cores – to use the entire memory reservoir if necessary while the other is idle and Intel Smart Memory Access that can 'hide' memory latency and bottlenecks.

Intel expects this server family to be the fastest-ramping product in the its history, and has set pricing for the Intel Xeon processor 5100 family from USD 209 to USD 851 in 1,000-unit quantities, depending on features. Intel will also provide extended lifecycle support of 5 to 7 years for its communications, storage and embedded customers.