Intel launches new Ivy Bridge Xeons, targets microservers

Intel is pushing out that delicious Ivy Bridge update to server chips and, interestingly, it's not focusing purely on the high end to start. In total, 28 new Xeon CPUs were introduced today, including the E5-4600 and 2400 families targeted at four and two socket systems, respectively. Those tweaked mainstream processors aren't the interesting part, though. We're more intrigued by the updated E3 series, the low-end offerings that are aimed small businesses and light web-hosting duty. In particular the new E3-1220L v2 slashes power consumption to an impressive 17w by going with just two cores and only 3MB of cache. While that 3W advantage over its predecessor may not sound like much, it can make a huge difference in the microserver market and in high-density environments where cooling a room full of servers can become problematic. Even in its stripped down form the extremely low-power processor still supports Turbo Boost, Trusted Execution Technology and PCI-Express 3.0. Considering that last-gen's Atom-based server chip pulled down 15W, we'd consider the 1220L v2 an impressive feat of engineering. Now we've just gotta hope that Intel can carry through on that promised 6W Centerton chip. Check out the PR after the break.

Show full PR text

Intel Gives IT More Options with New Intel® Xeon® Processors
Posted by IntelPR on May 14, 2012 8:57:39 AM

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Three new Intel® Xeon® processor families address todays expanding business requirements, from high performance computing to simple web hosting.
The Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family brings efficient performance into a four-socket server configuration for customers seeking additional performance, density and flexibility.
The Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family makes the performance and reliability of two-socket servers more affordable for small and medium sized businesses.
Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family delivers improved performance per watt, data security for small businesses as well as professional-grade graphics for entry workstation customers

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 14, 2012 –Intel Corporation today announced the expansion of the Intel® Xeon® processor portfolio with new products designed to address a broad and emerging set of server requirements and provide IT managers with additional choice and flexibility.

To offer a range of energy-efficient and affordable solutions for server and workstation customers, the company introduced twenty-eight processors across three product families: eight processors from the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-4600 product family and nine processors from the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400 product family designed to complement the already available Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 product family. The company also announced availability of eleven processors from the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v2 product family.

"Companies today are increasingly dependent upon Information Technology to deliver innovative products and services to customers," said Boyd Davis, vice president and general manager of the Datacenter Infrastructure Group at Intel. "To satisfy the increasing diversity of IT needs and workloads, Intel is excited to offer additional processor options to enterprises of all sizes with the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600/2400 and E3-1200 v2 product families. Our new products feature the flexibility, value and performance that businesses demand in a market that is ever less tolerant of compromise. We are also continuing to drive momentum in the micro server market by introducing new lower power processors within the Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family."

New Density-Optimized Four-Socket and Cost-Optimized Dual-Socket Processors
The Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family offers the performance and energy efficiency benefits of the record-breaking Intel Xeon processor E5 family to allow higher density designs than available with previous 4-socket systems. With up to 32 cores and 48 DIMMs per system, these processors are ideal for a wide range of technical compute applications, such as scientific research and financial services, as well as dense four-socket solutions for communications infrastructure and rapidly growing markets such as China.

These processors support all of the features of the Intel Xeon processor E5 family such as Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions, Intel® Integrated I/O, PCI Express* 3.0, Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT). For traditional 2-socket server customers facing increasing data demands and a need to scale up for additional performance, the new 4-socket servers will open up new opportunities to realize significant total cost of ownership advantages. The Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family delivers up to 88 percent higher performance1 than a comparable Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family-based server and up to 3.8x2 the prior generation 2-socket Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series-based server.

Similarly, for small and medium businesses looking to upgrade from a single-socket configuration to a dual-socket server, Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family delivers a strong balance of energy-efficient performance and affordability while supporting core features of the Intel Xeon processor E5 family. With up to 3x3 the performance and significantly more memory and I/O options, these processors enable higher system densities and easier management compared to a single-socket server solution.

New Processors for Small Business and High-Density Environments
Also introduced today, the Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family is an entry-level server and workstation processor based on Intel's leading 22-nanometer (nm) process technology. Built for the unique demands of small business customers who require technology that lets them rapidly respond to market conditions and maintain a competitive advantage, these processors deliver up to 32 percent greater energy efficient performance4 and PCI Express* 3.0 for higher I/O bandwidth compared to the previous generation. There are more reasons to move up to a server featuring the Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family including up to 72 percent improved performance5, better security and reliability compared to the latest systems based on the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i3-2130 desktop processor. To address workstation customers running professional-grade 2-D and basic 3-D computer-aided drafting as well as entry-level media and entertainment applications, the new processors offer Intel® HD Graphics P4000, which delivers up to 2x faster media processing capabilities6 compared to the previous generation.

Intel Continues To Drive Micro Server Momentum
The Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family also features two low-power processors optimized for micro servers to address the needs of the emerging scale out datacenter workloads and usages. The Intel Xeon processor E3-1265L v2 based platform delivers up to 39 percent better performance per watt7 for simple front end web workloads compared to the previous generation. Intel is also introducing the Intel Xeon processor E3-1220L v2, the world's lowest power Intel Xeon processor at 17W TDP for dense micro server designs for applications such as low end dedicated hosting and basic content delivery. Systems based on the SSI* Micro Module Server Specification, designed for the micro server segment, and this new Intel Xeon processor, deliver up to 3.6x better performance per rack and up to 1.6x better performance per watt over prior the generation processor using traditional rack servers8.

Extensive Industry Support
Starting today, system manufacturers from around the world are expected to announce platforms based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600/2400 product families and the Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family. These manufacturers include Acer*, Appro*, Asus*, Bull*, Cisco*, Dell*, Fujitsu*, HP*, Hitachi Data Systems*, Hauwei*, IBM*, Inspur*, Lenovo*, NEC*, Quanta*, SGI*, Sugon*, Supermicro*, Tyan* and Unisys*.

Product and Pricing Information
In quantities of 1000, the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family ranges in price from $551 to $3,616, Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family ranges from $188 to $1,440 and the Intel Xeon processor E3-1200 v2 product family ranges from $189 to $884. Complete pricing details can be found at http://www.intc.com/priceList.cfm. For more details on these new Intel Xeon processors, visit www.intel.com/xeon. For more details on world records and other claims, visit www.intel.com/performance/server/.