Intel Ignites Quad-Core Era

Intel Ignites Quad-Core Era

The World’s Best Microprocessor Gets Even Better

Intel Corporation today kicked off the computer industry’s multi-core PC era by delivering four computing ‘brains’ inside a single microprocessor with the introduction of the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® 5300 and Intel Core™ 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor families. These products deliver immense speed and responsiveness for general purpose servers, workstations, digital media creation, high-end gaming and other market segments that crave absolute performance.

Intel began the transition to multi-core technology four years ago with Intel Hyper-threading technology, followed by the introduction of the industry’s first dual-core PC processors in April of last year. Intel recently refreshed its entire product line in just 100 days by introducing more than 30 new desktop and server processors based on the revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture, a more powerful yet energy efficient design.

“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,” said Paul Otellini, president and CEO, Intel. “I’m incredibly proud of what the people of Intel have been able to achieve.”

Intel has made this next step in the computer’s ongoing evolution as fast and easy as possible through continued investment in silicon process and manufacturing technology, innovative and tailored product design and a myriad of software developer tools and programs.

Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series
Extending the leadership established by the Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors, the new Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series sets new world records1 on key industry standard benchmarks:

- A Dell PowerEdge 2950 server running BEA JRockit JVM delivered a record breaking SPECjbb2005 result of 210,0652 BOPS, 61 percent better than the next best result.

- Using the SPECint*_rate_base2000 benchmark, which measures integer throughput, Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY TX300 S3 set a new world record with a score of 2003, 63 percent better than the previous record.

- A Hewlett-Packard ProLiant ML370 G5 Server running TPC-C Benchmark, which measures database performance, shattered the previous record by 42 percent with a score of 240,7374 tpmC at $1.85/tpmC.

- An IBM System x3650 server running the LS-DYNA 3-vehicle-collision workload, a leading HPC benchmark, set a new record for a single node performance5.

In addition, OEMs have published record-breaking1 results on SAP-SD 2-Tier6, SPECWeb 20057, SPECfp _rate_base20008, Fluent9 and SPECapc 3dsmax Rendering10 benchmarks. The chips deliver up to 2.5 times the performance of the fastest competing processor11 for the ultimate in powerful, dense and energy-efficient general purpose servers.

Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5300 series servers provide more headroom for server virtualisation than any other two-processor, standard, high-volume server platform. The new processors deliver up to 50 percent faster11 performance within the same thermal envelope and at the same cost as the previous generation Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5100 series launched less than five months ago.

Four Intel Xeon processors are launching today at clock speeds ranging from 1.60GHz to 2.66GHz, with front side bus (FSB) speeds ranging from 1066MHz to 1333MHz, and thermal design power (TDP) of either 80 watts or a performance optimised 120 watt option. In the
first quarter of 2007, Intel will launch two more quad-core Xeon processors – a low voltage version for ultra-dense deployments with a TDP of only 50 watts and a processor designed for single socket workstations and servers.

Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700

The world’s best desktop processor for multimedia applications, the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 is up to 80 percent faster12 than the company’s current Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X6800.

This is the world’s first quad-core desktop processor available for unmatched, highly threaded performance. Ideal for today’s games with incredible performance for tomorrow’s highly threaded games, the Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 is available at 2.66GHz with a 1066MHz FSB. The processor runs on Intel’s existing 975X Express chipset family.

The company plans to offer a mainstream quad-core processor starting in the first quarter of next year under the brand name Intel Core 2 Quad processor. The processor will be an ideal choice for processor intensive, highly threaded programs such as entertainment, gaming and multimedia activities.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

ENDS

*Intel, Intel Core, Xeon and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Disclaimer:

Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit http://www.intel.com/performance/resources/limits.htm or call (U.S.) 1-800-628-8686 or 1-916-356-3104.

1 World record claims based on comparison using published results on Dual processor systems based on x86 architecture.
2 SPECjbb2005 configuration details: Dell PowerEdge 2950 Server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 8GB (8x1GB) FB-DIMM memory, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition, BEA JRockit (R) JVM 5.0 P27.1.0. Measured at 210,065 bops and 105,032 bops/jvm. Comparison platform: Same platform and configuration as above but with two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5160. Measured at 130,589 bops and 130,589 bops/jvm. Both results submitted to www.spec.org for review as of November 13, 2006.

3 SPECint_rate_base2000 configuration details: Fujitsu Siemens PRIMERGY RX300 S3 Server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 8GB (8x1GB) FB-DIMM memory, Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition. SPEC binaries built with Intel C/C++ Compiler 9.1. Measured at 200. Result submitted to www.spec.org for review as of November 13, 2006. Comparison platform: Dell PowerEdge 2950 Server platform with two Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5160, 8GB (8x1GB) FB-DIMM memory, Microsoft Windows Server* 2003. SPEC binaries built with Intel C/C++ Compiler 9.1. Referenced as published at 123. Results at http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2006q2/cpu2000-20060501-05940.html

4 TPC-C configuration details: HP ProLiant ML370 G5 platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, (2 processors / 8 cores / 8 threads), 64GB (16x4GB) FB-DIMM memory, Microsoft Windows Server* 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition, Database Software Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise x64 Edition. Referenced as published at 240,737 tpmC; $1.85/tpmC; availability date as listed in the submitted report is February 1, 2007. Comparison platform: Same platform and configuration as above but with two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5160. (2 processors / 4 cores / 4 threads) Referenced as published at 169,360 tpmC; $2.93/tpmC; availability date as listed in the submitted report is Nov 22, 2006. Both results at www.tpc.org.

5 LS-DYNA configuration details: IBM System x3650 server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 12GB (12x1GB) FB-DIMM memory; Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4, Nahant update 4, EM64T, LS-DYNA mpp970s. Result submitted to www.topcrunch.org for review as of Nov 9, 2006

6 SAP-SD configuration details: HP ProLiant BL480c platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 32GB (8x4GB) FB-DIMM memory, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, SQL Server 2005 database, SAP ECC Release 6.0. Measured at 1806 SD users. Results at http://www11.sap.com/solutions/benchmark/index.epx.

7 SPECWeb2005 configuration details: Fujitsu Siemens PRIMERGY TX300 S3 Server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 32GB (8x4GB) FB-DIMM memory, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES U4, Rock Web Server v1.4.0. Measured at 18,160. Results submitted to www.spec.org for review as of November 14, 2006.

8 SPECfp_rate_base2000 configuration details: Fujitsu Siemens PRIMERGY RX300 S3 Server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 8GB (8x1GB) FB-DIMM memory, 64-Bit SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 Kernel 2.6.16.21-0.8-smp on an x86_64. SPEC binaries built with Intel C/C++ Compiler 9.1. Measured at 104. Result submitted to www.spec.org for review as of November 13, 2006.

9 Fluent configuration details: IBM System x3650 server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 12GB (12x1GB) FB-DIMM memory; Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4, Nahant update 4, EM64T, Fluent version 6.3. Result submitted to www.fluent.com for review as of Nov 9, 2006

10 SPECapc 3ds max 8 – Rendering configuration details: HP xw8400 workstation platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 2.66GHz with 8MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz system bus, 4GB (4x1GB) 667MHz FB-DIMM memory, Windows XP Professional SP2 OS, NVIDIA Quadro FX4500 graphics card. Results submitted to www.spec.org as of Nov 13, 2006 with a score of 9.92.

11 Up to 2.5x better than competing x86 architecture based platform claim based on published SPECint_rate_base2000 results: Intel Xeon configuration details: Fujitsu Siemens PRIMERGY RX300 S3 Server platform with two Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor X5355, 2.66GHz 8M L2 Cache, 1333 FSB, 8GB (8x1GB) FB-DIMM memory, Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition. SPEC binaries built with Intel C/C++ Compiler 9.1. Measured at 200. Result submitted to www.spec.org for review as of November 13, 2006. Comparison AMD Opteron* platform details: Tyan Thunder K9QE (S4985) Server platform with two Dual-Core AMD Opteron™ processor Model 2220SE, 2.80GHz with 2x1MB L2 cache, 8x512MB, DDR2-667. SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP3 (64-bit), SPEC binaries built with PathScale EKOPath(TM) Compiler Suite, Release 2.3. Referenced as published at 78.3. For more information see http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2006q3/cpu2000-20060721-06584.html

12 Performance measured using 3D Ray Tracing on POV-Ray 3.7 Beta 16, comparing the Intel Core Extreme processor QX6700 to Intel Core Extreme Processor X6800. Actual performance may vary. See http://www.intel. com/performance/desktop/extreme/3d_ray_tracing.htm for more information.

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