Preview: Here Comes Intel's Nehalem

Intel is preparing to lift the curtain on its latest, greatest server chip and murmurs in its system-builder and OEM ecosystem are building towards a roar. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is calling Monday's release of the first Nehalem-class Xeon parts "the biggest product launch" in its history -- and for once, the hoopla around a new microprocessor may just be warranted, say sources.

Major server vendors and whitebox builders will be ready with dozens of new servers and workstations based on Intel's new Xeon 5500 series of processors, code-named Gainestown and based on the Nehalem microarchitecture first seen in last November's release of Core i7 desktop chips. The 5500 series includes a dozen new multicore, dual-threaded 45-nanometer processors tailored for dual-socket servers and workstations, including a pair of low-power chips and one 130-watt monster that screams along at 3.20GHz.

Partners say the new dual-core and quad-core chips are Intel's best-performing server processors to date, with energy-efficiency benefits of up to two times over single-core Xeons. In the data center, those savings are passed along via lower power bills -- one major server vendor is even promising a three-month return-on-investment for customers refreshing servers based on older single-core chips with the new Gainestown systems.

While the biggest server vendors are rolling out Gainestown-based blade, rack and tower servers with literally thousands of SKUs on offer, smaller Intel partners are just as geared up for Monday's release party.

System integrators can look forward to building Xeon 5500 series-based systems on the following motherboard and chipset platforms, obtained by ChannelWeb:

Xeon 5500 Series Platform Road Map (click on image to enlarge)

"We're just itching for the calendar to say we can officially put [Nehalem] on our Web site. It's going to be huge," said Shah Gautam, president of Colfax International, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based builder of high-end custom servers and workstations.

As for the processors themselves, Intel has been playing its cards close to the vest, price- and specification-wise. Based on information from reliable sources, here are our best guesses as to what we can expect from the initial Xeon 5500 series lineup come Monday:

XEON 5500 SERIES - GAINESTOWN

Dual-Core, 80W

E5502 (1.86GHz, 800MHz, 4 MB L3, 4.8GT/s QPI) - $188

Quad-Core, 60W

L5506 (2.13GHz, 800MHz, 4 MB L3, 4.8GT/s QPI) " price n.a.

L5520 (2.26GHz, 1066MHz, 8 MB L3, 5.86GT/s QPI) " price n.a.

Quad-Core, 80W

E5504 (2.0GHz, 800MHz, 4 MB L3, 4.8GT/s QPI) - $224

E5506 (2.13GHz, 800MHz, 4 MB L3, 4.8GT/s QPI) - $266

E5520 (2.26GHz, 1066MHz, 8 MB L3, 5.86GT/s QPI) - $373

E5530 (2.40GHz, 1066MHz, 8 MB L3, 5.86GT/s QPI) - $530

E5540 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz, 8 MB L3, 5.86GT/s QPI) - $744

Quad-Core, 95W

X5550 (2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 8 MB L3, 6.4GT/s QPI) - $958

X5560 (2.80GHz, 1333MHz, 8 MB L3, 6.4GT/s QPI) - $1,172

X5570 (2.93GHz, 1333MHz, 8 MB L3, 6.4GT/s QPI) - $1,386

Quad-Core, 130W

W5580 (3.20GHz, 1333MHz, 8 MB L3, 6.4GT/s QPI) - $1,600