Intel Corp. has announced plans to discontinue its first-generation quad-core microprocessors aimed at multi-processor (MP) servers. As a result of the plans, several months from now Intel will offer mostly six-core microprocessor for multi-socket servers, which is logical, considering the fact that it plans to release eight-core chips early in 2010.

According to Intel, market demand for the Intel Xeon processors X7350, E7340, E7330, E7320, E7210 code-named “Tigerton” has shifted to other Intel processors. The products identified will be discontinued and unavailable for additional orders after February 12, 2010. The last boxed processors with aforementioned model numbers will be shipped on the 14^th of May, 2010, whereas the last tray products shipment date is the 10^th of August, 2012.

Intel Tigerton was the first quad-core chip for MP servers from Intel and was formally launched in September, 2007. The chips became rather popular thanks to high performance and so did the Intel 7300-series and 7400-series platforms, which support both quad-core Xeon MP “Tigerton” as well as six-core Xeon MP “Dunnington” central processing units.

Intel is gearing up to release its code-named Beckton microprocessors with eight processing engines and based on the Nehalem micro-architecture. The new Xeon EX chips will utilize a brand new platform, hence, it is logical for Intel to discontinue lower-performance previous-generation chips in order not to carry too many models aimed at multiprocessor machines. Furthermore, Tigerton chips are made using relatively outdated 65nm process technology.

Tags: Intel, Xeon, Tigerton, 65nm