Intel plans to release the next Xeon server processor in 2010, and it will be able to support up to eight cores inside a single chip.
According to Boyd Davis, general manager of server platforms group marketing at Intel, the Nehalem-EX (EX for expandable server market) is being designed for high-end server platforms. Previewing the technology on a conference call, Davis said the Nehalem-EX processor fits into the multi-processor server market, which currently makes up about six percent of total server volume but actually represents a much larger opportunity.
As it will support up to eight cores, the processor will be able to support 16 threads and 24Mb of cache. He noted the performance increases as being dramatic, with the Nehalem-EX processor have up to nine times the memory bandwidth of Xeon 7400 processor, as well 2.5 times the data performance, 1.7 times the integer throughput and 2.2 times the floating point throughout.
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