Woodcrest is the name of the coming server and workstation model of Intel’s new Core architecture, where we also known of Conroe and Merom, which are the stationary and mobile versions. Even if Intel has had a tough time lately with the stationary market thanks to its NetBurst architecture, it has, if possible, been even worse with the server and workstation market. Its Xeon processors based on the NetBurst architecture has been acting like a real punching bag for AMD’s Opteron platform, whose scaling possibilities has been one of its greatest advantages. AMD has never really had a share of the server market worth mentioning before, but has been able to grab rather large portions through new partners and the real kick in the teeth for Intel was a few days ago when Dell announced it will launch Opteron based servers.
Intel’s future is looking pretty bright though and not unexpected it’s the Core architecture that will bring back the initiative on the server market. Its Bensley server platform is arelady available today, but then with the NetBurst-based Dempsey processoers. Bensley has a trump up its sleeve though, namely support for Woodcrest and you only need a BIOS update to use this.
At Tech Report they’ve published an article about Woodcrest where they actually have some benchmarks to show and they compare Intel’s coming server flagship Woodcrest with AMD’s current top of the line, Opteron 285. Intel’s Bensley platform together with Woodcrest is the least to say impressive and with some tests it’s a pure humiliation when compared to AMD’s Opteron 285 processor. Woodcrest looks to be a very important cog in Intel’s future machinery, just as the rest of the Core family.
