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Supermicro New Zealand
Intel Nehalem & Tylersburg Products
29 May 2009
Intel released the first few models of Nehalem CPU and removed the embargo on motherboard makers to release their Tylersburg chipset based motherboards on 1 April 2009. As of today, the supply of Nehalem Xeon CPU for Dual Socket motherboards is still quite limited. Of all the models published (see Table 1), only 3 are readily available in NZ at this stage (labelled with *). Let us examine the various models for a better understanding.
- W5580 is top of the line. It has the highest core frequency of 3.2GHz, the highest QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) link throughput spec of 6.4GT/s and obviously the highest TDP (Thermal Design Power) envelop at 130W.
- X series is high performance
- E series is mainstream (The E55x0 and E550x series sit on 2 different levels of GHz, Cache, QPI, DDR3 speed so we can expect different levels of performance from them)
- L series is low energy (none was available)
Table 1- Dual Socket Nehalem CPU Models
Intel
Model
|
GHz
|
Cache
|
QPI -GT/Sec
|
TDP (w)
|
Max DDR3
Speed
|
W5580
|
3.2
|
8MB
|
6.4
|
130
|
1333
|
X5570
|
2.93
|
8
|
6.4
|
95
|
1333
|
X5560
|
2.8
|
8
|
6.4
|
95
|
1333
|
X5550
|
2.66
|
8
|
6.4
|
95
|
1333
|
E5540
|
2.53
|
8
|
5.86
|
80
|
1066
|
E5530
|
2.4
|
8
|
5.86
|
80
|
1066
|
E5520 *
|
2.26
|
8
|
5.86
|
80
|
1066
|
E5506 *
|
2.13
|
4
|
4.8
|
80
|
800
|
E5504 *
|
2.0
|
4
|
4.8
|
80
|
800
|
E5502
|
1.86
|
4
|
4.8
|
80
|
800
|
L5520
|
2.26
|
8
|
5.86
|
60
|
1066
|
L5518
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2.13
|
8
|
5.86
|
60
|
1066
|
L5508
|
2.0
|
8
|
5.86
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38
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1066
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L5506
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2.13
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4
|
4.8
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60
|
800
|
According to several 3rd party website reviews, the Nehalem Xeon was about 20% faster than Clovertown Xeon on a clock for clock basis, consumed about 10% more energy and pricing was similar. This situation may tilt the performance/price and performance/wattage ratios towards Nehalem's favour as far as the CPU is concerned. However, when we account for the cost of motherboard (new model), memory (new model) and PSU (new model), the upfront hardware price of Nehalem based servers would become slightly higher than Clovertown, bringing things into balance again.
Supermicro New Zealand recommends Fitness for Purpose and Total Cost of Ownership as the criteria for purchase decisions. At this stage, we plan to introduce Nehalem systems (X8 in Supermicro terminology) in June and keep Clovertown (X7) if the demand still exists. Please email
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for your immediate requirements or concerns.
Editor
###
Supermicro New Zealand
Managed by Compucon New Zealand
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