Intel aims for RISC market with next-gen Xeons

The Nehalem EX has eight cores per chip

Intel has been giving details of its next-generation Xeon multi-core processing platform codenamed Nehalem EX.

The new processor range will extend the number of cores per chip to eight, and Intel is promising a major boost in performance over existing Xeon 7400 processors.

The new platform will double the existing memory capacity, with 16 memory slots possible per processor socket, and have four high-bandwidth QuickPath links of the type currently seen in other Xeon processors.

"With around 2.3 billion transistors, the new chip is one of the most complex pieces of technology built by humans," said Boyd Davis, general manager of marketing for Intel's server platforms.

"We expect this to be a dramatic leap forward. This really goes after markets served by RISC processors. It's going to have a significant impact on the whole server market."

Intel is confident that the new high-end chips will not be a threat to Itanium, a new version of which is due next year, but is aimed at taking more business away from RISC systems.

Vernon Turner, an analyst at IDC, said in a recent report that Nehalem EX's core platform attributes make it "very capable of further disruption to parts of a declining RISC market".

Intel is already claiming wide support from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Over 15 server designs have already been registered between eight OEMs, and IBM has been showing off a server it has already built using the chips.

"We are the first to demonstrate the EX in production," said Alex Vost, vice president of IBM's System X and blade business. The prototype X5 system uses eight, eight-core processors to give a total of 64 cores running 128 software threads.

The Xeon 5500, formerly the Nehalem EP, is selling well, according to Intel, and will make up over 50 per cent of the firm's dual-core shipments by August 2009.

VIDEO: Intel's Boyd Davis explains the new features of the Nehalem EP