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Intel Remakes Workstations with PCI Express, DDR-2, 64-Bit Xeon CPUs June 29, 2004 SpeedStep -- It Isn't Just for Notebooks Anymore On June 21, Intel Corp. ushered in a new generation of desktop PCs with its 915P, 915G, and 925X Express motherboard chipsets, supporting DDR-2 system memory and the PCI Express successor to the old PCI input/output and AGP graphics interface, as well as new LGA775-socket variants of the Pentium 4 processor. On June 28, it was workstations' turn. Intel's new workstation platform combines the single- or dual-processor E7525 chipset (formerly codenamed "Tumwater") with new Xeon CPUs (formerly codenamed "Nocona") that mark the Xeon's transition from 0.13-micron to 90-nanometer process engineering, just as the Pentium 4 "Prescott" did in February. The new Xeons also catch up to the Pentium 4's 800MHz front-side bus, boosting throughput over their predecessors' 533MHz bus. Ironically, the feature that users will probably find most interesting is the one Intel talks about least: The new 2.8GHz through 3.6GHz Xeon processors mark the debut of Intel's Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T), which enables 64-bit memory addressing -- ending what the chip giant's formerly nice, neat plans specified as a monopoly on 64-bit computing for its Itanium server CPUs, and a clear distinction between those chips and the Xeon family's venerable 32-bit x86 architecture. In other words, EM64T is Intel's grudging adoption of the AMD64 x86 extensions pioneered by its rival's Opteron processor in April 2003. New Memory, New Graphics Given the new 800MHz system bus, you might expect the E7525's dual-channel memory controller to support DDR400 memory as current P4 platforms do, but it stops at DDR333 -- a step up from the E7505 chipset's DDR266, but short of an ideal match for available memory bandwidth. However, Tumwater also supports DDR-2/400 memory, yielding 6.4GB/sec of bandwidth -- according to Intel, up to a 20-percent increase over DDR333 with up to a 40-percent decrease in power consumption. If memory bandwidth is important to 3D CAD and digital-content-creation workstation customers, graphics bandwidth is even more important. So the E7525 chipset includes a PCI Express x16 graphics interface, delivering 8GB/sec (4GB/sec in each direction) of bandwidth for a variety of third-party PCI Express graphics solutions. ATI Technologies has added four PCI Express members to its FireGL workstation graphics processor family: the FireGL V3100 and V3200, each with four pixel pipelines, two geometry engines, and a 128-bit memory interface; the FireGL V5100, with 12 pipelines and 128MB of memory; and the FireGL V7200, with 16 pipelines and 256MB of memory. Each of the latter two incorporates six geometry engines and a 256-bit memory interface. Nvidia Corp. counters with the Quadro NVS 280 for professional 2D applications and Quadro FX 330, Quadro FX 1300, and Quadro FX 3400 for 3D. The FX 330 has a 64-bit memory interface and 64MB of DDR; the FX 3100 has a 256-bit memory interface and 128MB of DDR; and the flagship FX 3400 combines a 256-bit memory interface with 256MB of G-DDR3 memory. For other I/O, the E7525 chipset also provides a PCI Express x8 interface that can be split into two x4 interfaces. Intel's 6700PXH is a 64-bit PCI hub that offers PCI or PCI-X bus interfaces; the chipmaker also offers a choice of two I/O controller hubs for Tumwater, both supporting dual Serial ATA controllers, four USB 2.0 ports, and 32-bit PCI connectivity and one adding 64-bit PCI-X. The E7525 is priced at $100 in 1,000-unit OEM quantities. The 90-nanometer Xeons -- which have OEM prices of $209 (2.8GHz), $316 (3.0GHz), $455 (3.2GHz), $690 (3.4GHz), and $851 (3.6GHz), the last available in limited quantities until the third quarter -- feature 16K of Level 1 and 1MB of Level 2 cache, like their Pentium 4 Prescott cousins. (The last is actually a step down from the 2MB of L2 cache found on the 3.2GHz flagship of the 0.13-micron, 533MHz-bus Xeon line.) They use previous Xeons' 604-pin PPGA packaging, not the new LGA775 socket of the latest Pentium 4 chips. In addition to Intel's Hyper-Threading multitasking technology -- which makes compatible software running on a uniprocessor or dual-processor workstation act as if it's on a two-way or four-way system, respectively -- the 800MHz-bus Xeons support SSE3 streaming multimedia instructions. The 3.4GHz and 3.6GHz models add a feature you're used to hearing about for Intel's notebook chips: Enhanced SpeedStep Technology, which adjusts CPU clock speed and hence power consumption based on application requirements. In the Xeon's case, SpeedStep forms part of what Intel calls Demand-Based Switching, which enables real-time dynamic shifts between frequency and voltage points, changing the internal core frequency without affecting the front-side bus. It's more likely to impact a server room's electric bill than an individual workstation user. Go to page: 1  2