Intel responds with new Xeon chips
For its part today - and perhaps in response to AMD's Opteron move - Intel repeated an announcement from last month that it had since appeared to step back from, stating it is indeed moving forward the date of the release of its first dual-core "Paxville" Xeon processor to 4Q 2005, from early 2006. Next year, Intel added, it will make available new, low-voltage editions of Xeon processors, including a 90 watt 64-bit Xeon MV clocked at 3.2 GHz, and a 55W 64-bit Xeon LV clocked at 3.0 GHz. Both new Xeons support hyperthreading and DDR2-400 memory.
Pricing for the Xeon MV will be $487 in 1000-unit quantities, with the Xeon LV set at $519. Conceivably, if there is a performance gap between Opterons and Xeons as AMD suggests, it might be compensated for by a considerable price gap.
In recent months, Intel has been touting "performance-per-watt" as its main gauge of processor efficiency throughout the remainder of this decade. Typically, up to now Intel's Xeon power consumption has been rated at 120 watts and higher. "We're at 95 watts," boasted AMD's Williams, "and we also integrate the memory controller, which in an Intel system is more on the order of 15 to 20 watts additional on top of the processor. So you really have to look at the overall performance, [including] the wattage of the processor subsystem that's involved." He added that an industry standard for gauging performance-per-watt is probably impossible, given the architectural issues currently separating Intel architecture from AMD.
Without Intel stating so explicitly, it can be assumed that a separate memory controller will continue to be employed on Xeon-based systems, though Intel spokespersons have led some to believe that lower-wattage controllers may also be part of future chipsets. Today's Intel statement made mention of its coming "Greencreek" chipset, whose name seems ecological enough. The chipset was mentioned in conjunction with the upcoming "Glidewell" workstation platform, which will support Intel's upcoming dual-core Xeon "Dempsey" processor.
While AMD's plans do not currently call for phasing out single-core processors, Williams told us, "By 2007, I expect single-core will be certainly well within the minority. There are certain workloads [that are] just more tuned toward single-thread performance. So moving forward, AMD can't ignore the benefits of having better single-thread performance, but more and more, you'll see the enterprise applications being adapted to perform better with multiple cores."
In a press statement, AMD mentioned that Sun Microsystems will be the first OEM to ship systems based on today's new releases, with its Sun Fire X4200 based on Opteron SE Model 280, available sometime next month. HP will follow soon afterward with its 4P ProLiant DL 585 based on the Model 880, with other models following thereafter based on the 280. AMD statements have also mentioned IBM by way of praise and admiration, though details on forthcoming IBM-based products have not been released.
