Intel releases dual core Xeon for server market

Intel has launched its first Core-based server processor, the Xeon 5100, to replace its existing Xeon chip line and combat the growing market share of AMD’s multicore Opteron-based servers.

The release is the first in a new line of Intel chips based on the Core architecture, and boasts, according to the chip maker, 40 percent less power consumption and speed increases of up to 135 percent.

According to Jeff Li of Pioneer Computers, once stock becomes available, “the price to performance ratio of the Core Xeon will determine the move away from AMD”. Intel has announced pricing from US$209 to US$851 in 1,000-unit quantities, and expects a product lifecycle of between five and seven years.

System builders and distributors said demand for the forthcoming dual-core chips is high, with Danny Feldman of Synnex suggesting the “old series [of existing Xeon chips] is pretty much sold out” in anticipation of the new Core based Xeon.

Core series chips are developed on a 65nm process, allowing more transistors to be placed in the equivalent die area of previous chips. The die shrink is used to provide 4MB of on-die cache, shared between two processors.

Shipments of Xeon 5100 products and compatible motherboards aren't expected to reach the local distributor and reseller channels for more than a month. Intel also announced this week a dual core Itanium2 processor, available in the third quarter.

David Field

hardwareintel