14 DAY TRIAL // Expected to be released starting with the fourth quarter of 2011, Intel's upcoming Xeon E5 product line, based on the Sandy Bridge-EN and Sandy Bridge-EP architecture, will be comprised of no less than four different processor series, aimed at single, dual and quad-socket workstations and servers.
According to findings posted online by the CPU-World website, the workstation market will get the Romley-WS platform which is made up of either Xeon E5-1600 or E5-2600 series processors and Intel's C600-series chipset.
Just as their naming scheme implies, Xeon E5-1600 CPUs are to be installed in uni-processor machines while products in the Xeon E5-2600 range support dual-socket configurations.
However, both will be compatible with Intel's socket R motherboards (LGA-2011) and are scheduled for a Q4 2011 release.
Just like their desktop counterparts, the CPUs released in the Xeon 2600-series will feature HyperThreading, Turbo Boost technology, AVX and AES instructions, and VT-x / VT-d / VT-c virtualization.
Next to the Xeon E5-2600 series, Intel also plans to release the Xeon E5-2400 processor family which also supports dual-socket systems and is compatible with LGA-1356 motherboards (socket B2).
As the E5-2400 processors will be based on the Sandy Bridge-EN architecture, they carry a tri-channel memory controller, compared to the quad-channel controller available in LGA-2011 chips.
Together with these three processor series, Intel will also release a quad-socket version of the Sandy Bridge-EP, dubbed the E5-4600, which is scheduled to become official in the first quarter of 2012.
All Xeon E5 processors will use the C600 chipset, code-name Patsburg, that we detailed in a previous report.
Sandy Bridge-EN and Sandy Bridge-EP CPUs feature as much as eight processing cores, pack up to 20MB of shared L3 cache, have a TDP rated between 80W and 150W, and support one or two Quick Path Interconnect links, depending on the model.
