INTEL HAS UPDATED its Xeon line of processors with three new Xeon MP (Gallatin) chips for multiprocessor server environments. The company has added a larger level 3 cache and pumped up the clock speeds on its Xeon line of processors. Press reports say the new Xeons will run at up to 2GHz with 2MB of level 3 cache and suggest a number of vendors including HP and IBM will wheel out systems based on the upgraded chips shortly.
Director of enterprise processor marketing at Intel, Lisa Graff, said customers can expect between 20 and 28 per cent better performance for the chips. "Cache (has) a huge impact on performance," CNet credits her with saying.
As well as targetting Sun in the server space, the new Xeons will also encroach on the space reserved for Itanic chips. According to the reports, Graff said the margin of difference had shrunk until the next planned revision of the Intelgraph chip - Madison - tips up next year. "You will see the Itanium line consistently ahead of Xeon," she is quoted as saying.
The new Xeons run at 1.5GHz, 1.9GHz and 2GHz. The 2GHz version being the only one to sport the 2MB cache. The chips are fabricated using a 130-nanometer manufacturing process, a tad smaller than the previous 180-nanometer process. The 1.5GHz version sells for $1,177 in 1,000-unit quantities, while the 1.9GHz and 2GHz versions sell for $1,980 and $3,692
News source: The Inq
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