6-core 32nm Xeon CPUs Launched

Original Article Date: 2010-03-13

Exactly one year after the launch of the revolutionary "Nehalem" Xeon CPUs, Intel have now released their first upgrade to this processor series. Codenamed Westmere, these new CPUs are all built on 32nm process technology, and some of the models now feature six processor cores.

The die-shrink from 45nm down to 32nm is significant because a smaller the process (the channel width of the circuitry etched onto the CPU die) results in a shorter path between CPU components, which means faster performance. A reduced process size also means reduced power consumption, since fewer electrons are needed on the narrower electrical paths.

Equally significant is the introduction of the first six-core processors from Intel. This will be of particular interest to power users, wanting 50% more computing power within the same dual processor footprint.

Furthermore, the L3 cache size on all CPUs has been increased from 8MB to 12MB, further increasing performance potential.

Intel have priced these CPUs such that each 6-core model will be the same price as the existing Nehalem model of the same clock speed. e.g. the new X5680 6-core 3.33GHz is the same price as the old Nehalem W5590 quad-core 3.33GHz. This means 50% more cores for the same price! For the same price, the new quad-core models get an extra clock-speed bump over their old Nehalem counterparts. e.g. a new E5620 at 2.4GHz is priced the same as the old E5520 at 2.26GHz.

And if all that wasn't too good to be true, these processors will slot right in to existing mainboards using the S5500/S5520 chipset, with only a BIOS update required. So existing users can upgrade their Nehalem Xeon based systems to 6-core 32nm, without having to replace any other components!

Here is a summary of the enhancements of the new Westmere CPUs:

• Reduced process size to 32nm - down from Nehalem's 45nm. Increased performance for a given clock speed, reduced power consumption.
• New six-core models available.
• Increased L3 cache size to 12MB - up from Nehalem's 8MB.
• 50% more cores for the same price as Nehalem - with CPUs of equivalent clock speed. New quad-core models get a bump in speed for the same price as their old Nehalem equivalents.
• Full compatibility with existing S5500/S5520 chipset-based motherboards - these CPUs will slot right in to your existing Nehalem based systems.

Westmere comes with all the great features of Nehalem, including the QPI onchip memory controller, TurboBoost dynamic overclocking and HyperTransport thread-execution.

New CPU List

Note the inclusion of two ultra-low power 40W quad-core CPUs and a 60W six-core CPU. These are the lowest powered server CPUs Intel has ever launched, and should be of interest to end-users running large clusters/farms running 24/7 where TCO can be influenced by power-consumption from CPU usage and the resultant air-conditioning costs.

Note also the two high-clock speed quad-core CPUs - the X5667 at 3.06GHz and the X5677 at 3.46GHz, the latter being the highest clock server CPU to be released in many a year. These should be of interest to end-users where maximum single-threaded performance in necessary, or where software licensing is per core, and the maximum performance per core is needed.

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In summary, this is another great release from Intel which will have a significant effect upon the computing potential of server and workstation users. AMD are not out of the fight, though, so stay tuned for their new CPU release, expected very shortly. :)

Best regards,

Ben Ranson
Chief Systems Engineer
Electronics Nexus
http://elnexus.com
ben@elnexus.com
1-877-773-5366