DailyTech - Intel Launches Quad-Core "Tigerton"

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Hardware Intel Launches Quad-Core "Tigerton"
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - September 6, 2007 1:07 PM

33 comment(s) - last by 9nails.. on Sep 8 at 12:42 AM

New quad-core Xeon 7300 series scales up to 32 processors

Intel yesterday took its quad-core Core 2 architecture to the high-end multi-CPU server sector with the launch of six new Tigerton Xeon 7300 series processors. The new quad-core Xeon 7300 series features scalability up to 32 processors for a total of 128 CPU cores.

Intel offers the quad-core Xeon 7300 series in three different thermal envelopes and cache sizes. The company offers the processor in 8MB, 6MB and 4MB cache sizes. Intel bins the processors in 50-Watt, 80-Watt and 130-Watt thermal envelopes.

*Intel Quad-Core Tigerton* 8MB**
Model	Core Frequency	L2 Cache	TDP	Price
X7350	2.93 GHz	8MB	130W	$2301
E7340	2.40 GHz	8MB	80W	$1980
L7345	1.86 GHz	8MB	50W	$2301

Intel reserves its 130-Watt thermal envelope for the speed topping X7350 with its 2.93 GHz clock speed while regular E7340, E7330, E7320 and E7310 models have 80-Watt TDPs. The company only has one low-power 50-Watt variant for launch – the L7345 with its 1.86 GHz clock speed.

Intel Quad-Core Tigerton
Model	Core Frequency	L2 Cache	TDP	Price
E7330	2.40 GHz	6MB	80W	$1391
E7320	2.13 GHz	4MB	80W	$1177
E7310	1.60 GHz	4MB	80W	$856

All new quad-core Xeon 7300 models operate on a 1066 MHz front-side bus featuring a new point-to-point bus architecture, allowing each processor to have its own connection directly to the chipset.

Expect server manufacturers to announce servers featuring the quad-core Xeon 7300 series in the coming weeks.

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In other news...

By PLaYaHaTeD on 9/6/2007 1:42:52 PM , Rating: 6

In other news, the Detroit Tigers filed a lawsuit against Intel, claiming that their codename "Tigerton" has created confusion between the baseball franchise and the server chips.

Ivan Rodriguez could not be reached for comment.

RE: In other news...

By acer905 on 9/6/2007 2:05:24 PM , Rating: 2

Of course Pudge couldn't be reached, he's still celebrating last nights 11th inning win!

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RE: In other news...

By FITCamaro on 9/6/2007 2:11:51 PM , Rating: 5

In further news General Mills is also suing Intel for impeding on its trademarked Tiger character on Frosted Flakes. They cite confusion people might undergo when trying to differentiate between the CPU and a "flake" of cereal saying its possible consumers might accidentally start eating their CPUs and plugging cereal into their high end motherboards.

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RE: In other news...

By GNStudios on 9/6/07, Rating: -1

RE: In other news...

By TomZ on 9/6/2007 4:44:05 PM , Rating: 2

Because Kris Kubicki has anointed that post with a special status that elevates its rating to an otherwise out-of-range "6" and disables any further voting on it. Consider it an owner's privilege.

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RE: In other news...

By Haltech on 9/6/2007 9:52:07 PM , Rating: 2

also becasue six rating comments is freakin awesome. :) sorry had to say

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RE: In other news...

By Samus on 9/7/2007 4:02:58 AM , Rating: 2

another slap to AMD, in the last market they have any form of influence on anymore. the server market.

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RE: In other news...

By mrdelldude on 9/7/2007 9:48:49 AM , Rating: 2

That's a bit premature don't you think?

Let's wait until Barcelona is released in a few days and has been benchmarked before we pronounce Intel the victor.

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Another release...

By jbzx86 on 9/6/2007 1:12:51 PM , Rating: 3

And the Intel machine just keeps moving forward even with Barcelona only 4 days away. It looks like a pre-emptive strike against AMD.

RE: Another release...

By RW on 9/6/07, Rating: -1

RE: Another release...

By Bluestealth on 9/6/2007 1:39:51 PM , Rating: 2

Eh?
Anyways I think competition is good for all of us computer enthusiasts. In the end we spend less money on better products.
I hope that AMD remains competitive to Intel for the near future, despite the fact that I usually end up buying Intel.

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RE: Another release...

By vignyan on 9/6/07, Rating: 0

RE: Another release...

By mrdelldude on 9/6/2007 2:47:32 PM , Rating: 3

Must be ... Intel demoed a 4 chip (16 core) Tigerton system back in October. Since AMD hadn't done much in the high-end server side to really push things forward, Intel seemed content to just release old Netburts with speed bumps and ever increasing cache sizes.

Now that Barcelona is a few days away, low and behold, here's the next gen of Xeon MPs. But they are still a step behind the other Xeons which are soon to be Penryn based.

It's exciting times in the world of CPUs again.

Can't wait until Tigertons and Barcelonas face off in the benchmarks!

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RE: Another release...

By ahock on 9/6/2007 5:01:27 PM , Rating: 2

As far as I know what AMD will be releasing is a server part chip which include MP space. This I dont get, Intel more than a year to transition MP to Core microarchitecture. Why? is it because MP needs to be validated thoroughly due to its complex design and features? And why can AMD release MP space chip first than desktop and UP after they have just started to get good part steppings last April(?) (I think or June)?

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RE: Another release...

By djkrypplephite on 9/6/2007 5:51:14 PM , Rating: 2

I think AMD is waiting for higher clock bins to release the desktop chip. All in all Barcelona looks pretty worthless right now. They better get higher clocks or intel will continue to walk all over them.

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RE: Another release...

By vignyan on 9/6/2007 11:45:01 PM , Rating: 2

I think its not just about the core2 archi thats different in tigerton... It has the point to point bus feature also going into the new chip... All the projects from Intel come with the Intel Validated mark... which is pretty high standard of Quality for the OEMs... So the delays are precedented... Same goes with AMD... The validation of the products is critical for any company to avoid the recall in which case the company's bankruptcy is guarenteed in the current scenario!

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Strange Models

By Slaimus on 9/6/2007 6:08:20 PM , Rating: 2

The strangest models seems to be the dual core 8MB chips. They are two dual-cores on the same package, each with one core disabled.

RE: Strange Models

By slickr on 9/7/2007 9:57:40 AM , Rating: 2

Do you mean Quad core? Either way your post has no logic !
Anyways AMD is going to be in big losses for this whole 2007, no mather of Barcelona launch.
AMD heaven't released a new core processor for 9 months this 2007 and the momentum for Intel processors is at its peak. If AMD manages to release better desktop and server processors by 2008 then it might actually get some profits going and at least mainstaining a 20% market share in the whole processors businesss!

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RE: Strange Models

By Slaimus on 9/7/2007 12:13:00 PM , Rating: 2

I am talking about these models:

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpe...
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpe...

They are 2 dual cores chips on the same package, with each chip having one core disabled. The full 4MB of cache is left in tact on each chip. It is like 2 single cores, with 4MB of cache each, on the same package.

That is a very odd way to get a 8MB dual core.

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RE: Strange Models

By 9nails on 9/8/2007 12:42:17 AM , Rating: 2

How do you get at that? I'm still not following you on how these are the combination of two dual core CPU's. Couldn't they just be two cores with 4 MB of L2 each as they appear?

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Barcelona?

By GrandMareg on 9/6/07, Rating: -1

RE: Barcelona?

By Zurtex on 9/6/2007 1:41:17 PM , Rating: 2

Barcelona is AMDs server side CPU. Agena, the desktop edition, won't be out till the end of the year.

So yeah, if you want a strictly high end CPU, you've got little choice but to go with Intel over the next couple of months.

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RE: Barcelona?

By cassandra on 9/6/2007 2:26:25 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Barcelona is AMDs server side CPU. Agena, the desktop edition, won't be out till the end of the year.

well, this is absolutely a correct comment and a point that does keep having to be made to people who are over-enthusiastic to have the latest tech on their desktop, but, in the interests of balance, I have to point out that Tigerton is hardly intended as a range of desktop CPUs either.

Having said that, there is nothing to stop you from using a sever CPU (and mobo, and RAM...) in a desktop application. You'll find it difficult to find a mobo that will support a typical gamers ideal of a dual graphics card system, and you might even have difficulty with some OS variants and artificial license restrictions on the number of CPUs, but you can do it. Wouldn't be surprised if you don't want to, though.

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RE: Barcelona?

By Master Kenobi

(blog) on 9/6/2007 2:37:12 PM , Rating: 3

Dual graphics cards is hardly typical of gamers. Most people use one still.

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RE: Barcelona?

By IGoodwin on 9/6/2007 4:12:41 PM , Rating: 3

I'd go so far as to say that some 'workstation' boards offer very good features for graphics, using 'server' processors. I've seen a few with Quad slots.

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RE: Barcelona?

By afkrotch on 9/6/2007 8:05:02 PM , Rating: 2

Well have some Dell Precision 490 workstations that allow the user of dual cards in SLI. We currently have them setup as dual quad cores with a single Quadro card.

I'd suggest simply going with regular desktop hardware. 8 cores in single threaded applications doesn't equate to better performance. They do work for our weather forecasters, as they have so many different weather apps open and some of those apps will have graphical representation of that data over the course of 4 hours.

Since I'm part of the system admins, I set one up for regular workstation tasks and the slow speeds of the cores was killing me.

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RE: Barcelona?

By Martimus on 9/6/2007 1:51:47 PM , Rating: 3

You will find out on Monday, when the Non-Disclosure Agreement is lifted. One reviewer (I'm omitting his name to avoid getting him in trouble for talking) mentioned that the final silicon looks really good, and that it is slightly faster than Clovertown - clock-for-clock - in most applications. In memory intensive applications, it is over 20% faster. The biggest problem with the chip is that it has such low clock speeds. If it overclocks well, it may be worth getting, but if it doesn't you should probably wait until they release faster running CPU's, or just get an intel CPU.

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RE: Barcelona?

By TomZ on 9/6/2007 2:40:19 PM , Rating: 2

As you state, the problem is 20% clock-for-clock advantage, if true, is not exciting if the top speed is only 2GHz.

And I doubt it will overclock well, based on AMDs current process node, and because if it did, then AMD would have enough yield at higher clocks to release faster-grade parts up front. There's no business case that can be made for holding out higher performance and releasing it later.

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RE: Barcelona?

By Martimus on 9/6/2007 2:45:51 PM , Rating: 2

Except that this is a server CPU, and they would sacrifice clock speed for reliability.

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RE: Barcelona?

By deeznuts on 9/6/2007 2:52:39 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
Except that this is a server CPU, and they would sacrifice clock speed for reliability.

Of course. Which is the problem. The clock speed, as it appears, is low, because of reliability.

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RE: Barcelona?

By vignyan on 9/6/2007 11:23:58 PM , Rating: 2

The 20% advantage for clock to clock is in the Mem-intensive applications only. I think its based on some of the memory benchmark and not the actual application as such. Need to see some of the actual figures. Cant wait till monday! A busy day it will be... surfing the net! ;)

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RE: Barcelona?

By Moishe on 9/6/2007 1:53:52 PM , Rating: 2

It's a great time to buy a PC... Unfortunately Agena won't be out too soon, but Barcelona should give us a pretty good idea of how good Agena will be and will basically let you know whether or not you should wait.

Still, the Intel CPUs are really good and relatively cheap right now.

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RE: Barcelona?

By Goty on 9/6/2007 2:39:55 PM , Rating: 2

I'm basically echoing what has already been said, but I'll go ahead and say it anyways. If you're looking to build a desktop in the next few months, go ahead and buy an Intel processor; You won't be disappointed.

As for how AMD's next desktop chips will perform, Barcelona should give you a very good idea of how Agena will perform at similar clockspeeds seeing as how AMD's desktop and server chips usually only differ in memory controller configuration and the number of HT links enabled. It's almost guaranteed that Agena will debut at significantly higher clockspeeds than Barcelona (assuming AMD finally gets their 65nm process worked out) which could cause some significant performance gains, but I wouldn't hold my breath just yet.

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"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer