After three long years, this refresh of the Xeon E7 8800/4800/2800 family was highly anticipated. Based on the Ivy Bridge EX architecture, which is now manufactured with a 22 nm process, this new generation is further distinguished by 50% more cores. The main point however is that it was primarily designed to meet a specific application objective, i.e. the real-time processing of massive quantities of data. To that end, the memory capacity is tripled compared to the previous generation, with up to 1.5 TB of DDR3 per socket: ideal for storing large databases and eliminating costly disk access! Obviously, 6 or 12 TB in machines having 4 or 8 sockets (32 is the maximum number of sockets per machine) will allow data-intensive applications to benefit from better latencies in NUMA environment than if they had to run on a cluster using Ethernet or InfiniBand, given the same capacity in terms of the number of memory sockets.

With 50% more cores (for a total of 4.3 billion transistors per die), each processor can contain up to 15 cores, compared to 10 with the previous generation. Why 15 instead of 16, a logical multiple of two for binary systems? Rumor has it that a backup core is reserved for Intel’s new Run Sure technology. As for configurations, 2, 4, and 8 processors can be QPI-linked in the same system. As we go to (digital) press, some OEMs, such as HP or SGI, are designing their own controllers (and chipsets) to accommodate more processors. Now, regarding the thermal envelope, it appears to be remarkably well controlled as it should not exceed 155 watts in the hottest configurations. The pricing? In the neighborhood of $6,500 per unit. For the record, Intel is claiming 80% better performance than IBM’s POWER7+ for an 80% lower TCO over four years, thereby reducing the RISCs, so to speak…