Intel to Announce Quad-Core Processors for Servers at CES

Amid all the consumer products that will be on display at the International CES expo, Intel is planning to offer something new for its enterprise customers as well.

The Santa Clara, Calif. chip maker, in addition to rolling out its Core 2 Quad for consumer PCs, will also officially launch two additional quad-core Xeon processors for servers and workstations.

An industry source, who spoke to eWEEK on the condition of anonymity, said that the two Xeon processors would be announced at the same time that Intel details the Core 2 Quad processor. The CES expo, which takes place in Las Vegas, runs from Jan. 8-11.

The announcement will now give Intel seven quad-core Xeon processors for servers. After the initial Nov. 14 announcement that brought the first four quad-core processors to the market, the company added a fifth processor, citing increased demand by OEMs.

The five Xeon processors offer speeds ranging from 1.6GHz to 2.66GHz and prices from $455 to $1,172 per 1,000 units shipped.

In addition to these quad-core processors, Intel offers a Core 2 Extreme quad-core QX6700 processor for high-end gaming systems. With the addition of the Core 2 Quad for consumer desktops, Intel will now have a total of nine quad-core processors.

Click here to read more about Intel’s Core 2 Quad announcement scheduled for the CES expo.

When Intel announced that it would bring the fifth quad-core Xeon to market early, officials also offered some details about the two other chips. The first will be a low-voltage processor for ultra-dense deployments with a TDP of 50 watts. TDP is an Intel term that refers to how much heat a chip has to dissipate.

The second quad-core in this lineup has been designed for single-socket servers and can also be used in workstations.

By offering these quad-core processors at a consumer show, Intel is hoping to further create distance between itself and the company’s main rival, Advanced Micro Devices.

AMD, the Sunnyvale, Calif. chip maker, has been critical of Intel and its quad-core design, which combines a pair of dual-core chips in a single package. AMD’s design will combine four cores on a single piece of silicon.

However, AMD’s quad-core processor, which goes by the name Barcelona, is not scheduled to hit the market until the middle of 2007.

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