Intel launches dual core Xeons

Intel and AMD chose to go seperate paths when it comes to its dual core processors. Intel went for the desktop market with Pentium D and AMD went for the server market with its dual core Opteron. AMD has since then launched dual core desktop models in the form of Athlon 64 X2 but Intel has so far not launched its server chips with dual cores, I.e. until now. Intel has now announced it has launched its dual core Xeon processors which will with their Hyper-Threading support be an optimal platform for parallell power. The new dual core Xeon-processor works at 2.80GHz with an 800MHz processor bus. The L2-cache weighs in at 2MB and relies on Intel’s E7520 chipset.

Intel also speaks of a coming dual core Xeon-processor called Xeon 7000 which will be geared towards multi-processor configurations. As for the the new 2.5GHz processor that will only work in pairs, Xeon 7000 wil be able to work in a setup of up to 32 processors in the same system. Xeon 7000 is expected to appeat in two months and will work at 3.0Ghz but also support a new chipset, Intel E8501.

It is going to be interesting to see how AMD and Intel’s battle will continue where AMD has already gained momentum with its early launch of dual core Opterons. Now that Intel has joined up the question is if the NetBurst-architecture has enough power to supply to keep up with Athlon 64 and Opteron.

Source: Intel