Intel updates its server processor range

CHIPMAKER Intel has just bolstered its stable of server processors with the launch of the Xeon 7500 line based on its Nehalem EX architecture.

Hot on the heels of rival AMD's launch of its Magny-Cours processors, Intel's Nehalem EX chips are aimed at the multi-socket high end server market for the financial services sector and server virtualisation as well as high performance computing.

Intel's Xeon 7500 processors are 130W eight-core CPUs that provide 16 threads thanks to Hyperthreading, contain 24MB of L3 cache and are clocked at 2.26GHz but can hit 2.66GHz in Turbo Mode at the top end. They also sport four Quick Path Interconnect links and eight memory channels that can support 16 DIMMs per socket. Using 16GB DDR3 DIMMs, this allows for up to 1TB of memory in a four socket server and 2TB in an eight socket system.

Systems using Xeon 7500 processors can be expanded from two to 256 chips per server, and Intel reckons they perform about three times better than its previous Xeon 7400 series.

This massive memory increase will be a boon to those implementing virtualisation, as currently memory is often the biggest bottleneck in these environments, but it will also be well suited for particular kinds of high performance computing scenarios, according to Intel.

The Nehalem EX line is built on a 45nm process, but Intel said we can expect a 32nm version in the Westmere EX which, although no firm details were offered, should be forthcoming in line with its increasingly familiar tick-tick cadence model.

Intel has also included around 20 new RAS (Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability) features, introducing capabilities previously restricted to RISC-based chips such as the Itanium, including Machine Check Architecture (MCA) recovery, which allows servers to better deal with memory faults such as a double bit error, particularly in a virtualised environment. The company added later that this by no means spells the end of its Itanium series of processors and that development on those chips continues as normal.

At the UK launch event, Chipzilla also had on hand spokesmen from Dell, IBM and even an investment banker to talk about how spiffing Intel's latest server chips are and how high-end servers are about to experience the 'Nehalem effect'.

Dell will use Intel's new CPUs to refresh its entire line of servers, including rack mountable systems and blades. Although the Dell spokesperson was a little coy about how these will fit in with its AMD based server products, he admitted that Intel is still the company's biggest partner in terms of sales, but said that it is all about offering choice to customers.

Dell, IBM and others should start shipping Intel Nehalem EX processor based servers almost immediately. µ