X-bit labs

Intel to Offer “Special Edition” Chips for Servers.

Category: CPU

by Anton Shilov

[ 05/21/2006 | 11:30 PM ]

Intel Corp., the world’s largest supplier of x86 microprocessors, is about to release central processing units based on the new-generation micro-architecture, which promises very low power consumption amid high performance. But the company will not concentrate on low power consumption only and promises to release chips with increased computing power, even if such chips will consume more energy.

In a conversation with a UBS analyst about server processors, Intel indicated that it plans to offer “higher-performance” central processing units for “applications where performance is more important than power consumption”, reports Forbes web-site.

According to UBS analyst Thomas Thornhill, Intel’s code-named Woodcrest processors with two processing engines for mainstream dual-processor servers will have power consumption of 65W, whereas quad-core chips code-named Clovertown will have thermal design power of 80W.

The new Woodcrest processors will be branded as Intel Xeon 5100-series processors and will include models 5110, 5120, 5130, 5140, 5150 and 5160 that will operate at 1.60GHz, 1.86GHz, 2.00GHz, 2.33GHz, 2.67GHz and 3.00GHz, respectively. The chips will feature 4MB unified L2 cache, 1333MHz processor system bus and will have TDP of 80W or below, according to earlier information.

Intel did not unveil any actual plans to release processors with increased performance and power consumption, however, historically Intel planned processors for servers with boosted power. The company intended to produce chips with Foxton technology, which overclocked the processors in certain situations, but decided not to enable it in its Itanium processors code-named Montecito. Intel’s arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices also offered “special edition” central processing units for servers in machines sold by Sun Microsystems.