14 DAY TRIAL // Dell introduced two new servers for IT buyers, the PowerEdge 2970 and the Energy Smart 2970. The PowerEdge 2970 is stated to draw 34% less power and up to 105 percent greater performance per watt over the previous generation of dual core servers. The new special feature the servers have is the ability to upgrade seamlessly to the upcoming Barcelona processors, if need should arise.
These new servers are a part of Dell's second generation of servers, and to Intel's regret, they use AMD processors, but some other features stand out, such as their software utilities that come with the servers which help reduce the learning curve and the maintenance process. There is also the AMD Direct Connect Architecture, which helps eliminate bottlenecks that certain applications are prone to, and also a big problem with FSB architectures (such as Intel's).
You can add Serial Attached SCSI drives to these servers, for increased reliability and transfer rates. One other feature is the I/O PCI Express, which allows for connectivity with Ethernet cards, RAID, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel. The TCP/IP Offload Engine allow for performance improvements while running Windows 2003 Server with SP1. Another feature is the Split Plane operating mode, which, in term, allows the power supplies to function independently, leading to better performance and power consumption management, unlike the Unified Plane systems.
On the other hand, the Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart 2970 can yield an increased performance per watt of up to 25%, while still consuming with up to 21% less power, of course, by comparison to previous dual core servers. The pricing for the Dell PowerEdge 2970 model starts from 1.699 Euro, taxes and shipping not included, while for the Dell PowerEdge Energy Smart 2970, they haven't announced a price yet.