“The transition to the 32nm process technology let Intel painlessly increase the number of cores. The updated Xeon 5600 series is either better or at least not worse than the Xeon 5500 one. The performance of dual-socket machines has been elevated to a new level, which is great. What’s even better, the transition to new dice can solve another problem, i.e. reduce power consumption.”Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
- All Core i3 Models @ Hardware Secrets
- The Rest of Clarkdale: Intel’s Pentium G6950 & Core i5 650/660/670 Reviewed @ AnandTech
- Graphics Card + CPU in Professional Software and Games @ iXBT Labs
- Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Review: An Overall Look at the Core i7 Family @ Techspot
- AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Review @ ITShootOut
Die shrinking the Xeon
We do tend to focus more on the evolution of desktop processors here at PC Perspective, but the server side of the silicon world has been benefiting from the same jumps in technology. The Xeon X5680 is 32nm Gulftown CPU, sitting in an LGA1366 socket and has 6 cores. It has a TDP of 130W at its full 3.6GHz speed and presumably a little less at its non-boosted speed of 3.33GHz. iXBT Labs examines the effect of extra cores on performance and tests the efficiency of the die shrink when it needs to deal with that extra pair of cores.
