I know it's not officially supported, but will these run on any desktop chipsets?

No, they are 771 CPU's. However even though in theory they could probably run on some desktop chipsets there are no boards so far. (previous Xeons ran on i875 just fine as well)

Anyway, I expected these chips to be expensive, they seem quite reasonably priced. Previous LV's have been great overclockers.

i see in the not so distant future... laptops with quad cores, they're not that far behind 50 watts, while a laptop c2d is 30 watts, just a little farther to go.

ehh i still think amd makes much lower voltage chips but these things are prettty amazing i have to say :D

Seems like a good deal for real.

what are the advantages/differences between dual core xeons and other multicore chips like pentium D's and the conroe/allendale/kentswood chips?

ex_revenwhat are the advantages/differences between dual core xeons and other multicore chips like pentium D's and the conroe/allendale/kentswood chips?

Nothing, besides that Xeons are social chips, they can work in pairs or even more. Plus, Xeons use different chipsets normally.

are there multi processor boards (eg - use 2 or more xeons on one main board) available to the public? or is it all for commercial/big server stuff????????????

ex_revenare there multi processor boards (eg - use 2 or more xeons on one main board) available to the public? or is it all for commercial/big server stuff????????????

It's all still available to us. It's just pricey, and requires FB-DIMMS for ram, making it even more pricey.

sounds ouchy

il probably stick to conroe lol

DanTheBanjomanNothing, besides that Xeons are social chips, they can work in pairs or even more. Plus, Xeons use different chipsets normally.

and...the current xeons have a 1333mhz fsb vs a 1066 for conroe

www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010200302+1071321504&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=302
here is a whole page of quad readies :D

kwchang007and...the current xeons have a 1333mhz fsb vs a 1066 for conroe

Not all of them. Only the higher clocked Woodcrests, all others are 1066.

@Wile E
There are plenty, starting at around $400. As for them being pricey, that is a something people have claimed for SMP systems ever since they existed, however they don't cost that much more.

DanTheBanjoman@Wile E
There are plenty, starting at around $400. As for them being pricey, that is a something people have claimed for SMP systems ever since they existed, however they don't cost that much more.

In the grand scheme of things, yes you're right, they don't cost that much more. But I meant more on the average person's budget.

DanTheBanjomanNot all of them. Only the higher clocked Woodcrests, all others are 1066.

@Wile E
There are plenty, starting at around $400. As for them being pricey, that is a something people have claimed for SMP systems ever since they existed, however they don't cost that much more.

oh woops, lol thanks now i know :) i only heard about the faster one

Wile EIn the grand scheme of things, yes you're right, they don't cost that much more. But I meant more on the average person's budget.

Understandable, obviously you don't have a complete system for $600 or something. However compared to high end single socket you could be better off with low end dual socket (and low end is quite relative here). Extreme editions for example don't come cheap, and Kentsfield currently isn't a bargain either. I think people that can afford $600 videocards can easily afford Xeons/Opterons, people think Xeons cost thousands of dollars though.

Intel Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 12, 2007 – Further expanding its quad-core processor family line-up, Intel Corporation today announced two energy-efficient 50-watt server processors that represent a 35- to nearly 60-percent decrease in power from Intel's existing 80- and 120-watt quad-core server products.

As companies increasingly focus on reducing electricity bills and cooling costs associated with their computing needs, these new processors, requiring just 12.5 watts of power for each of the four cores or processing engines, deliver similar performance yet set a new standard in energy efficiency.

Intel has introduced 11 server, workstation and desktop PC quad-core processors since November.

Servers based on the new low-power, quad-core processors are designed for dense Internet datacenters, blade servers and industries such as financial services where the scale and density of servers are highly sensitive to power, real estate and cooling costs. The potential for cost savings by replacing aging infrastructure with Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors and deploying virtualization technology can be as much as $6,000 per year over the lifetime of each server based on Intel's own evaluations.**

In addition, these new processors represent a nearly ten-fold improvement in power consumption per core in just 1½ years.*** The company attributes this collective success to the merits of its breakthrough Intel® Core™ microarchitecture and aggressive design execution.

"Intel has really responded to the industry's call to deliver unprecedented breakthroughs for data center energy efficiency," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group and general manager of the Server Platform Group. "IT managers can get outstanding quad-core Intel Xeon server performance today and at no premium to dual-core products. We are thrilled to drive further records in lower power consumption and we won't stop here. Our engineers and architects are passionate about delivering even more power-saving innovations down the road."

Intel is introducing two low-voltage processors: the Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5320 and L5310. The new 50-watt quad-core processors operate at 1.86 GHz and 1.60 GHz, respectively, feature a unique 8 megabytes (MB) of on die cache for faster memory data communication and run on dedicated 1066 MHz front side buses. In 1,000 unit quantities the L5320 is priced at $519 and the L5310 at $455.

These processors can be coupled with Intel's existing "Bensley" server platform and have been designed to be "drop-in" compatible with the existing Dual-Core and Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor families.

Servers based on these new processors are expected to be available worldwide over the next few months from Acer, Dell, Digital Henge, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, HCL, IBM, Rackable Systems, Samsung, Verari, Wipro and other companies.

Intel, the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

Intel is too slow with its PRs :D