Intel Corp. on Monday is rolling out its fastest Xeon processor for dual-processor servers and workstations.
The new chip, at 3.2GHz, eclipses the current fastest Xeon, at 3.06GHz. It also features 1MB of cache and a 533MHz front-side bus.
Officials with the Santa Clara, Calif., company said that the chip—part of Intels Prestonia family of dual-processor Xeons—also is designed to protect investments customers already have made in their existing systems. The 3.2GHz Xeon can be dropped into any system running the E7501 chip set for servers or E7505 chip set for workstations, Intel PRO Gigabit Ethernet Network Connections, and Server RAID Controllers, and also is compatible with servers and workstations already running on dual-processor Xeons.
The chip—for servers that do such jobs as Web hosting, security and high-performance computing, and for workstations for such chores as digital content creation and three-dimensional modeling, according to Intel—is available immediately, with pricing starting at $851 per 1,000-unit shipments.
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