14 DAY TRIAL // Intel Corp. has officially introduced its Quad-Core Xeon 5300 and Core 2 Extreme microprocessors that feature four cores inside a single chip.
The new Quad-Core Xeon 5300 offers up to 50 percent faster performance within the same thermal envelope as the previous generation Dual-Core Intel Xeon belonging to the 5100 series, AppleInsider reports.
Although the Intel Xeon 5100 was launched less than 5 months ago at identical price points, Intel is literally flooding the market with state of the art technology. Clock speeds for the Xeon 5300 series range from 1.60 GHz to 2.66 GHz while the front side bus' speeds range from 1066 MHz to 1333 MHz. Thermal design power for these models is either of 80 watts, as in the 5100 series, or of 120 watt, the performance-optimized option.
Intel said that it will launch two more quad-core Xeon processors. One will have a TPD of 50 watts and will be for ultra-dense deployments and another model will be designed for single-socket workstations and servers. These two processors will be available in the first quarter of next year.
As for the new quad-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700, Intel says that it is up to 80 percent faster than its previous Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800. The Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is available at 2.66GHz with a 1066MHz FSB and runs on the existing 975x Express chipset family, according to AppleInsider.
Regarding these new models, Paul Otellini, Intel chief executive and company president said: Today's announcement ushers in another new era in computing. The capabilities of quad-core microprocessors will bring new possibilities for science, entertainment and business. I'm incredibly proud of what Intel's employees have achieved with these new products.
And he has what to be proud of as these processors will probably break some records as their predecessors did.
The company said systems running its latest Xeon chips achieved several new world records for performance, including a SPECjbb2005 score of 210,065, a SPECint_rate_base2000 mark of 200, and a TPC-C benchmark score of 240,737 tpmC at $1.85/tpmC.
Of the two new processors introduced on Tuesday, Apple Computer in the near feature is expected to adopt the Quad-Core Xeon 5300 series to power its most brawny professional workstation thus far: a dual quad-core Mac Pro system, featuring a combined 8 cores of processing power, AppleInsider writes.