Intel plans low-voltage 'Woodcrest' server chip
The low voltage version of the next-generation server processor consumes only 40 watts.
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The processor will run at 2.33Ghz, Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's Server Platforms Group, said in an interview here at the Intel Developer Forum.
The low-voltage chip is a successor to the new Xeon LV, code-named Sossaman, that Intel will begin shipping next week. Unlike Sossaman, however, Woodcrest LV is a 64-bit design.
"Sossaman was more of a stopgap solution for Intel," said Sarang Ghatpande, an analyst at Ideas International. "Woodcrest LV is a real solution for performance per watt."
Although the 40-watt consumption is a notch worse than the 31-watt Sossaman, it's still a big improvement over today's regular Xeons, which consume anywhere from 110 watts for single-core models to 165 watts for higher-end dual-core parts.
Excessive power consumption and resulting waste heat is a major problem in the computing industry. Improving performance per watt gives Intel a new sales pitch at a time when it faces market share losses to rival Advanced Micro Devices compounded by financial troubles.
IBM is selling Sossaman chips in its blade servers, but Hewlett-Packard decided against doing so because it's only a 32-bit design and uses last-generation memory and other components.