Intel exposes 65nm dual-core Xeons

Platforms on parade

By Tony Smith in Taipei • Get more from this author

Posted in Servers, 31st May 2005 09:18 GMT

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Computex 2005 Intel demonstrated its upcoming dual-core Xeon DP chip, 'Dempsey', along with its 'Blackford' chipset, at Computex 2005 today - the first time the 65nm beast has been seen in public.

The chip giant also had its 'Paxville' Xeon MP dualie on display, though that will be fabbed at 90nm. Like Dempsey, Paxville is due to ship in Q1 2006.

Paxville and Intel's E8500 chipset are the two key components of 'Truland', Intel's upcoming four-way server platform. 'Bensley' is a second server platform, though this time aimed at two-way servers, and based on Dempsey and Blackford.

Blackford and Dempsey also form the basis for 'Glidewell', Intel's platform for two-way workstations. The chip giant was also showing its entry-level server platform, based on the dual-core Pentium and Pentium Extreme Edition CPUs, and the upcoming 'Mulkiteo' chipset.

Blackford supports a 1066MHz frontside bus, and will connect to Intel's ESB2 South Bridge, 'Gilgal' Gigabit Ethernet controller and 'Sunrise Lake' I/O processor, which power Intel's I/O Acceleration Technology. The platform will also support the chip maker's Virtualisation Technology.

The E8500, meanwhile, provides independent system buses for each Paxville core. It also supports RAID-like memory partitioning, with one partition mirroring the data stored in the other. The chipset uses 400MHz DDR 2 SDRAM with ECC.

Intel's array of platforms - the basis of its shift away from marketing discrete silicon components toward Centrino-style bundles of products - were unveiled last February at Intel Developer Forum. ®