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Supermicro New Zealand
Channel Newsletter 
28 February 2008




For those who have access to the price list of Intel processors, you will find a large range of CPU specifications and may wonder which one is the best for your intended use.  We attempt to give you some guidelines herewith in appraising the differences.
 
Single Socket    E2000, E4000, E6000, E8000, Q6000 and Q9000 series
Dual Socket  X5100, X5200, X5300 and X5400 series


Single Socket

The good news is that Intel has adopted its Core architecture for the entire range and has eliminated the NetBurst core from the shelf.  In brief, Core 2 has a much higher performance per wattage rating than NetBurst.  The difference is so significant that we should rephrase by saying that the Core 2 has a much higher performance and yet a much lower electricity consumption rating than their previous microprocessor architecture.  The six desktop series processors are classified in terms of the number of cores within the CPU, the Front Side Bus (FSB) speed in MHz and the amount of total Level 2 Cache in the CPU.  Within each series are members with different clock frequencies.  Please be warned that this classification is based on Supermicro New Zealand observation and is not an official Intel announcement.

Series
# Cores
FSB
L2 Cache
E2000
2
800
1MB
E4000
2
800
2MB
E6000
2
1066/1333
2 / 4MB
E8000
2
1333
6MB
Q6000
4
1066
8MB
Q9000
4
1333
6 / 12MB


Dual Socket

In July 2006, Intel announced the first Xeon processor based on the Core architecture with its "Woodcrest" line of CPUs. The previous Xeon 5000 series is based on NetBurst and whilst their clock speed looked good (scaling up to 3.7GHz in the Xeon 5080), their performance was not so hot.  The latest based on the Core 2 architecture is the Quad-Core Xeon 5400 series.

Series

# Core

FSB

L2 Cache

X5100

2

1066/1333

4MB

X5300

4

1066/1333

8MB

X5400

4

1333/1600

12MB


Electricity consumption is one variable.  The good news is that all models shown in the table above consume less wattage and dissipate less heat than the previous generation Netburst architecture.  All chassis, PSU and motherboard models from good brands are therefore adequate and we do not need to worry.

Another variable is the fabrication technology where in recent years, processors were still fabricated using a 65nm or even the 90nm process.  Today the most advanced 45nm process is used for the E8000 and X5400 series.  They affect the clock speed scalability of the processors that are already listed in the table as well as the cost of manufacturing.  We can leave it outside the scope of this context.  We will review the AMD range in our next newsletter.

Feel free to discuss your requirements with us via This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


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