Intel Unveils Next-Generation Xeon Processors

Intel's next Xeon processors - codenamed Nehalem EX - will feature 8 cores, 16 threads, and 24 MB of onboard cache.

Chipmaker Intel has formally announced its next generation of Xeon processors, codenamed Nehalem-EX, and while they’re mainly aimed at data centers and servers, the CPUs could also find their way into workstations and high-end desktops like Apple’s Xeon-based Mac Pro line. The new Xeons will feature eight cores, 16 threads, and 24 MB of onboard cache, offering what Intel is characterizing as the greatest performance gain over the current Xeon 5500 and 7400 CPUs.

The processors will feature integrated memory controllers, a QuickPath architecture with four high-bandwidth links, and scalability up to eight sockets with Quick Path Interconnects—third party controllers could take the Nehalem-EX past eight sockets. Intel says the Nehalem-EX will feature up to 9× the memory bandwidth of its previous generation Xeon processors and support up to 16 memory slots per processor socket—a feature sure to appeal to memory-hungry parallel computing operations an server setups.

Intel hasn’t revealed pricing for the Nehalem-EX—it won’t be cheap—but expects to start production in the second half of 2009.