Intel Unveils New Atom and Xeon Processors and Future Rack Scale Architecture

MojoKid writes "Intel recently revealed a number of details regarding future Atom and Xeon processors and proposed server rack-level enhancements to improve efficiency and ease upgrades. The company will soon refresh its Xeon and Atom processor lines with new products manufactured using Intel's 22nm process node, which offer improved performance per watt characteristics and expanded feature sets. In total, Intel revealed details of three new low-power, Atom-branded SoCs for the data center, all coming in 2013. Intel is also updating the Xeon E3, E5, and E7 product lines. The Atom processor family will see new SoCs based on designs codenamed Briarwood, Avoton, and Rangeley, while the more powerful Xeons will be updated with Haswell, Ivy Bridge EP, and Ivy Bridge EX-based designs. Xeon E3s will leverage the increased graphics performance of Haswell to improve performance in multimedia-related workloads, like HD video transcodes. OHaswell-based Xeon E3 processors will also offer improved performance per watt over existing Sandy and Ivy Bridge-based designs and Intel will offer Xeon E3 processors with TDPs as low as 13 watts, approximately 25% lower than the prior generation."

Comments

Compatible with Windows 7?

[Billly Gates]

If not then I am not interested.

Rumor has it the new Atoms with Clovertail are not Windows 7 compatible. As Microsoft wants us to be testers first rather than customers so they can sell more phones as we get used to the UI.

Re:Compatible with Windows 7?

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 7 requires legacy (PCI) components to boot. Windows 8 doesn't. /conspiracy

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[epyT-R]

If you gotta hack it like that to make it usable, it's NOT better than windows 7.

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[Anonymous Coward]

No its not. It's unpleasant to use and adds nothing of value.

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[Billly Gates]

Only Windows 7 has IE 8.

That is a must for my job if I get a netbook and Windows 8 comes with IE 10 so that is a no go. Windows 7 support is a must for me

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[serviscope_minor]

I guess your time is worth $0/hour?

Ah the classic piece of anti-Linux FUD. I haven't seen this one here in a while.

Your comment implies that Linux takes up more time than Windows. It doesn't. Not only is the OS free, but you waste less of your valuable time messing with it and get a more efficient environment. A net win in every way.

Also, your attitude is, frankly, baffling. It's part of "the computer is a tool and should get out of my way" attitude which is so wrong it's hilarious. A computer certainly is a tool and given ther amount of use it gets it is some sort of insanity not to spend some time optimizing its use.

If people with this attitude were woodworkers, then you'd see them hacking away with a screwdriver and clawhammer, rather than a chisel and mallet. Oh and also, every piece made would be riddled with woodworm, made out of random bits of wood, have sticky drawers and would collapse about 3 weeks after it shipped, destrooying everything that was held within it.

But then I suppose it's not all that baffling. Most people I know cook for themselves, frequently, yet not a single one has a blue clue how to sharpen a knife. Yet they spend far longer mashing away with a butter knife cunningly disguised as a chefs knife, or use teeny serrated knifes since they stay sharp longer, and keep using well past the point where they are serrated butter knives.

And people get drowned under email and REFUSE to learn how to use filters.

I know people who commute by bike yet mysteriously haven't even learned to adjust the little cable twiddlers to account for brakepad wear. They then keep haveing to take the bike in to "get repaired" because it's a "piece of crap".

All of these people would save valuable time and have a nicer, less frustrating life if they learned the the bare basics of the tools they use day to day.

Given your implied attitide, you are among them. I would heartily recommend leaving their ranks and join the ranks of the tool users. We are a happy bunch and have nice tools.

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[Gadget_Guy]

Ah the classic piece of anti-Linux FUD.

I'm not sure that the original poster was making an anti-Linux statement there. I read it as having to do with having to hack around the Windows 8 "improvements".

Re: Compatible with Windows 7?

[PixetaledPikachu]

Only Windows 7 has IE 8.

That is a must for my job if I get a netbook and Windows 8 comes with IE 10 so that is a no go. Windows 7 support is a must for me

You can run IE10 on compatibility mode, and it can go down to at least IE7 mode. http://techathlon.com/internet-explorer-10-run-compatibility-mode/ . I think you can even enforce the compatibility mode via GPO

Far Cry 3!!!!

[RudyHartmann]

Hey, I want a pair of these new CPU chips from Intel with 10 cores each and 30M of cache in my next PC. These CPU's will now directly access a measly 12TB of ram. Heck, they're only $4616 each. Why not use them to run Far Cry 3 real fast? ;-)

http://ark.intel.com/products/53580/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E7-8870-30M-Cache-2_40-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI

Re:Far Cry 3!!!!

[SpazmodeusG]

Actually running high end games on a Xeon isn't that bad of an idea these days. For some bizarre reason they are always cheaper than equivalent i7 CPUs.

eg, the E3-1275 has an tray price of of $339. It runs faster both in turbo and non-turbo mode than the i7-3840QM which has a tray price of $568.

The E3-1225 at $215 is faster in both turbo and non-turbo speeds than the i7-3610QM at $378.
The E3-1245 at $266 is faster in both turbo and non-turbo speeds than the i7-3820QM at $568.

All CPUs listed are pretty much the same. Same architecture, same generation, same internal graphics card (the P4000 is the HD4000). Yet for some reason there's a huge discount if you buy Xeon rather than i7. There's not that much difference in the motherboard prices either. And the ECC RAM is optional, not required. So bizarrely these days it's worth buying Xeon if you want a huge discount on the desktop CPU prices.

Re:Far Cry 3!!!!

[CadentOrange]

You are comparing server Xeon chips to *mobile* i7 chips, hence the price and performance difference!

Re:Far Cry 3!!!!

[Kjella]

So bizarrely these days it's worth buying Xeon if you want a huge discount on the desktop CPU prices.

Maybe you should look at desktop CPU prices then? These are all mobile chips you're comparing to...

Graphics Capabilities?

[im_thatoneguy]

Is this increased multimedia capability simply an improved crappy integrated GPU or is this improved x86 multimedia processing like AVX? I would be very interested in improved x86 processing for tasks like rendering and raytracing. I could care less about the integrated GPU being slightly better.

I had a wish years ago,

[pecosdave]

Back when we were in the 800 MHz to 1.5 GHz as common range I had a wish. I wanted something akin to a Pentium Pro 200 build on - at the time - modern processes for a simple server or put around machine. Nothing high performance, just reliable and low power.

The Atom was an answer to that wish, I love it. I've been an AMD guy most my life, but considering I hated ATI, I love nVidia, and Intel is producing great stuff like the Atom and playing nice with the FOSS community I'm about ready to become a turncoat. AMD processors of all types are great, but especially when it comes to mobile it's hard to find one with a good system around it.

A wish almost come true, but no ECC

[ControlFreal]

I agree with the power-consumption part, but the reason I would still not buy the Atom line is the simple fact that they do not support ECC RAM; when you say "reliability", you do want to know when your RAM walks out on you.

Supermicro sells a couple of mini-ITX board for mobile Core i7s, though, that will still allow you to build an under-30W-idle system with ECC RAM.