Intel Rolls Out Low-Voltage Quad-Core Xeons
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant is positioning the new Xeon L5400s, manufactured with Intel's industry leading 45-nanometer process, as advantageous for power-constrained, high-compute density environments. The processors are up to 25 percent faster and have a 50 percent larger cache size than Intel's previous-generation, low-voltage quad-core Xeons, and at the same time maintain the older chips' 50-watt thermal envelope, Intel said. The quad-core L5420 and L5410 processors run at 2.50 GHz and 2.33 GHz, respectively, and feature a unique 12 megabytes (MB) of on-die cache and dedicated 1333 MHz front side buses.
Touting the processors' energy efficiency, Intel said the L5400 Series provides 16W idle power that reduces average system power and operating costs. Rack density has also improved, with 35 percent less processor power consumption compared to 80W mainstream processors enabling more servers per rack. In addition, the processors are socket compatible with existing quad-core and dual-core Xeon 5x00-based platforms.
Systems vendors supporting the L5400 series and L5210 include Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gigabyte, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Microstar, NEC, Quanta, Rackable, Supermicro, Tyan and Verari.
The L5420 is priced at $380 per unit and the L5410 goes for $320, both in 1,000-unit quantities.
In the next quarter, Intel said it will also begin shipping a new dual-core low-voltage processor that has a 40-watt rating and clock speed of 3GHz, with a 6MB cache size and a 1333 MHz FSB. The company is also extending the existing quad-core Xeon 5400 series for embedded market segments by offering the L5410 with support for a seven-year life cycle.