Inside the New
Intel Xeon Server Processor
With the release of its latest Xeon server processor, Intel is delivering features that IT
managers most crave: faster performance, lower power consumption and easier
server consolidation.
The Xeon 5100 series dual-core server processors are Intel’s first
chips based on a new architecture that boosts performance by
135 percent and lowers energy consumption by 40 percent over
previous Xeons.
The new server chip family, which offers two processors on the same silicon, is
a powerful, cost-effective solution for IT organizations of all sizes, including
small and medium-sized companies with mainstream file and printer server and
application needs, larger organizations with high-performance tasks and even
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with large Web farms, says Jason Waxman,
director of Intel’s Server Platforms Group.
“What we’ve done is truly deliver a world-class server processor that offers
leadership in performance and energy efficiency, along with breakthrough
technologies, such as virtualization, which our customer base has been asking
for,” he says.
Analysts say the new Xeon chip family delivers on its promises and will aid Intel in
its quest to recapture market share that it has lost to rival chipmaker AMD. While
Intel still dominates the x86 server chip space, AMD has captured 22.1 percent of
the market since entering the server market with its better performing Opteron
chip in 2003, according to analyst firm Mercury Research in Cave Creek, Ariz.
“Intel’s previous Xeons were based on its NetBurst Architecture, which was the
Pentium 4 design, and it really ran out of steam two or three years ago,” says
analyst Nathan Brookwood of Insight 64, a chip analyst firm based in Saratoga,
Calif. “With these new products, Intel finally has some live ammo in its gun again.”
The new 5100 series dual-core Xeon processors, targeted at the two-way
server configuration market, are the first chips based on the new Intel Core
microarchitecture, which serves as the foundation for the next several generations
of Intel server, desktop and notebook computer processors. Built using a
65-nanometer manufacturing process, the new Xeons feature new design
innovations that increase performance while consuming less power and generating
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less heat, which will result in lower energy bills.
The seven chips in the new 5100 Xeon series run 32-bit and 64-bit applications,
offer speeds between 1.6GHz and 3GHz and operate at between 40 and 80
watts. Intel’s previous generation of Xeons — the dual-core 5000 series, the last
server chips using the NetBurst Architecture — ran on 95 to 130 watts. In contrast,
AMD’s current crop of Opteron servers operates at 95 watts.
Brookwood says the new Xeon processors are now competitive with AMD, which
isn’t slated to release its next major new processor until next year. While industry
benchmarks aren’t yet available, Intel’s own benchmarks claim that the 5100 series
provides 60 percent better performance than AMD’s Opteron 285 chip.
“Intel has dramatically improved its architecture and dramatically improved its
power consumption, and consequently, the performance-per-watt contest is now
a whole lot closer,” says Brookwood. “It would be surprising if Intel weren’t in a
position to win a lot of benchmarks now.”
New Benefits
The new Intel Core architecture retires the Pentium 4 processor family, which was
first introduced in 2000 and included previous Xeon chips. The Pentium 4s were
built with the NetBurst Architecture, which was designed to boost processor
performance by increasing processor speeds.
But the harder Intel pushed the clock speed, the more heat it generated, which
prevented the company from taking its processors from 3GHz to its goal of
10GHz. When Intel built its first-generation Xeon dual-core chip last year using
the NetBurst Architecture, it essentially bolted together two single-core chips,
Brookwood says.
Intel’s new architecture is geared for multicore processors and features a handful
of new design enhancements, including technology that increases the number of
instructions per clock cycle, faster bus speeds, larger cache sizes and improved
memory efficiencies that remove bottlenecks, Waxman says. »
three times the amount
of memory bandwidth than we were able to deliver
“The net change is about
in previous generations.”
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At a Glance:
Intel’s Xeon Processor 5100 Series
Intel’s new dual-core Xeon 5100 processors, formerly code-named “Woodcrest,” offer a 135 percent improvement in performance
and 40 percent reduction in power consumption over previous Xeon chips. The new processors are built using the new Intel Core
architecture.
Processor Number Xeon 5160
Xeon 5150
Xeon 5148
Xeon 5140
Xeon 5130
Xeon 5120
Xeon 5110
Speed Front Side Bus
3GHz
2.66GHz
2.33GHz 2.33GHz
2GHz
1.86GHz
1.6GHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
1333MHz
80 watts
65 watts
40 watts
65 watts
65 watts
65 watts
65 watts
Intel Wide Dynamic Execution allows four instructions to be executed
simultaneously with each clock cycle. Previously, only three instructions were
executed simultaneously for each clock cycle. “Think of it like putting more
cylinders in a car engine,” Waxman explains.
with memory, I/O drives and the rest of the processor. In the past, each processor
in an Intel dual-core chip shared the same bus. “The net change is about three
times the amount of memory bandwidth than we were able to deliver in previous
generations,” Waxman says.
Intel Advanced Digital Media Boost speeds the execution of Streaming SIMD
(Single Instruction, Multiple Data) Extension (SSE) instructions, which are common
in financial, engineering and scientific applications, as well as encryption, video,
speech and photo-processing applications. Previously, Intel Xeon chips executed
one SSE instruction for every two clock cycles. With Advanced Digital Media Boost,
the Xeon 5100 executes one SSE instruction per clock cycle.
Intel is also using faster, more reliable DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules),
called Fully-Buffered DIMMs, which transmit data to and from main memory.
The new DIMMs quadruple the memory capacity of older Xeon chips, he says.
“This is very important for users of both multimedia applications and scientific
research,” Waxman says. “Those people are the hungriest, in terms of
performance.”
Intel has made two improvements to the cache to further boost performance.
First, Intel has increased the cache size of the Xeon processor from 1MB or 2MB
in previous generations to 4MB. Second, a new feature called Intel Advanced
Smart Cache allows both cores on the processor to share the L2 cache. Previously,
Intel’s dual-core processors had separate L2 caches for each core, so if both cores
needed the same data, both caches had to capture the same information. Now,
with a shared cache available, both cores needing the same data can share the
same cache, making the process more efficient. Also, if one core is idle, the other
core could take advantage of the entire 4MB of cache, offering a substantial
performance increase for Web server applications or business intelligence and data
management tools, Waxman explains.
Another technology, called Intel Smart Memory Access, uses algorithms that
speculate what memory may be needed, then it fetches the memory before it is
requested, placing it in cache and available when needed.
Intel has also built in dual front side buses, giving each CPU a bus to communicate
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Total Dissipated Power
Energy Efficiency
Since their introduction into the market last year, dual-core processors have
become huge sellers because IT administrators can boost performance without
having to add more servers in their crowded data centers. In fact, Intel and AMD
dual-core processors represented 25 percent of all x86 server spending in the third
quarter of 2005, according to technology research firm IDC. The number of AMD
and Intel dual-core systems sold more than doubled in the fourth quarter, on a
quarter-over-quarter basis, the firm reports.
IT organizations can consolidate their servers by replacing their single-core server
systems with the new dual-core Xeon 5100 chip, Waxman says. With its low
power consumption, they can cut their energy bill at the same time.
Five out of the seven Xeon 5100 processors operate at 65 watts, about half the
wattage of previous Xeon chips. For IT shops where energy efficiency is critical,
Intel offers an even more efficient processor, the 2.33GHz Xeon 5148, which runs
at 40 watts. For those with larger performance requirements, Intel offers the 3GHz
Xeon 5160 processor, which uses 80 watts.
“Some data centers are just full and can’t consume much more power, [which is]
why there’s so much excitement with the Xeon 5100s,” Waxman says. “You fit
more servers within the data center and lower the cost of powering and cooling
the servers.”
To further decrease power consumption, Intel has created Intel Intelligent Power
Capability, which shuts off portions of Xeon 5100 processors when they’re
idle, he adds.
Intel has also built in virtualization technology in the new chips to help IT
organizations better utilize their server resources and aid in server consolidation.
Virtualization is the ability to section off the server into multiple “virtual servers,”
which operate their own operating systems and applications. Intel’s technology
— called Intel Virtualization — is a set of hardware enhancements aimed at
improving the performance and reliability of virtualization software from VMware
and Microsoft, Waxman says. Intel has also partnered with VMware to develop
a set of best practices for virtualization.
Xeon: Today and Tomorrow
Intel currently offers four sets of server processors: at the low-end are the Pentium
4/Pentium D processors for entry-level servers aimed at small businesses, while the
high-end features the Intel Itanium 2 9000 series processor.
For those who need four-way configurations, Intel offers the dual-core Xeon
Processor 7000 sequence, which was built using the NetBurst Architecture.
The company plans to announce an update to the 7000 processor in the third
quarter, Waxman says.
For customers who need up to two-way configurations, Intel offers the
lower-priced dual-core Xeon 5000, built on NetBurst Architecture, and the new
dual-core Xeon 5100 processors, featuring the latest Intel Core architecture
technology. Intel will continue to sell the Xeon 5000s for customers who have
already standardized on the older technology and aren’t yet ready to transition to
the newer 5100s, he says.
More than 150 vendors have announced support for the new Xeon 5100 processor,
including Acer, HP, IBM, MPC and Supermicro. For example, the HP ProLiant
DL380 G5 model features a 3GHz dual-core Xeon 5160 processor and 2GB of
RAM for $4,559.99. The IBM BladeCenter HS21 features a 3GHz dual-core Xeon
5160 processor and 1GB of RAM for $3,530.
When Intel announced the new chip in late June, CDW customers immediately
began flooding the company with orders, says Oscar Slusarczyk, Intel brand
manager at CDW.
With the release of the Xeon 5100, now is the perfect time for IT organizations to
upgrade and refresh their servers, Slusarczyk says. “Quite a number of customers
are looking for a reliable, dependable and high-performing processor and that’s
what Intel has designed with the 5100.”
Waxman predicts huge success for the new processor family. “This will be our
highest volume server processor for years to come, and it really is something
that will be deployed in millions of servers,” he says. “Customers are looking for
substantially improved performance and energy efficiency, and we’ve really hit the
mark with the Xeon 5100 series.” ◊
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