Shop for All
Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor

Compare the top 5 lowest prices by hovering your mouse over the product names on the left

Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor
Core 2 Q9550 Quad Core Processor Core 2 Q9550 Quad Core Processor
Core 2 Quad Q9450 Quad Core Processor Core 2 Quad Q9450 Quad Core...
Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor

See More Products...

The CPU Articles

Intel Xeon 5300 Aka Clovertown

The 5000 series marks the dual-processor capable Xeon processor of Intel's portfolio. 5000 stands for the dual-core Xeons. (Paxville) and 50xx represents the first 90-nm dual core (Dempsey), which was still based on the NetBurst architecture. The Xeon "Woodcrest", which is based on the latest Core 2 microarchitecture, is called 5100. The quad-core Xeon Clovertown was baptized 5300. The two remaining digits represent both the CPU and the bus clock speed. Have a look at the following table to find the Xeon model for your platform.

Xeon Model Overview

Processor
Number		 Archit. Cache Clock
Speed		 Front
Side
Bus		 Power System Type Quad
Core		 Dual
Core		 HT
Tech.
X5355 65nm 8 MB L2 2.66 GHz FSB1333 120W DP X    
E5345 65nm 8 MB L2 2.33 GHz FSB1333 80W DP X    
E5320 65nm 8 MB L2 1.86 GHz FSB1066 80W DP X    
E5310 65nm 8 MB L2 1.60 GHz FSB1066 80W DP X    
5160 65 nm 4 MB 3.0 GHz FSB1333 80W DP   X  
5150 65 nm 4 MB 2.66 GHz FSB1333 65W DP   X  
5148 LV 65 nm 4 MB 2.33 GHz FSB1333 40W DP      
5140 65 nm 4 MB 2.33 GHz FSB1333 65W DP   X  
5130 65 nm 4 MB 2.00 GHz FSB1333 65W DP   X  
5120 65 nm 4 MB 1.87 GHz FSB1066 65W DP   X  
5110 65 nm 4 MB 1.6 GHz FSB1066 65W DP   X  
5080 65 nm 2x2 MB 3.73 GHz FSB1066 130W DP   X X
5063 65 nm 2x2 MB 3.20 GHz FSB1066 95W DP   X X
5060 65 nm 2x2 MB 3.20 GHz FSB1066 130W DP   X X
5050 65 nm 2x2 MB 3.00 GHz FSB667 95W DP   X X
5030 65 nm 2x2 MB 2.67 GHz FSB667 95W DP   X X

Intel combines two Woodcrest-type Xeon 5200 processor into a single processor to create the quad-core Clovertown. Effectively, it is a double-dual core, with both dual cores having their own 4 MB shared L2 cache.

Socket 771, FSB1333 Or FSB1066

All Xeon 5300 processors are designed for Socket LGA 771, which dominates the Intel server offerings today. There are four versions available: 1.6 and 1.86 GHz for FSB1066 platforms and 2.33 and 3.0 GHz for FSB1333 solutions. Be sure to get one of the latest platforms, ideally with Intel's 5000 chipset family, to support FSB1066 or FSB1333.

The Intel processor busses are based on quad data transfer rate (QDR) technology, which basically means that four chunks of data can be transferred per clock cycle. Knowing this, you'll realize that FSB1333 is based on a 333 MHz clock speed and FSB1066 runs at 266 MHz. It's good to see that Intel went after the faster 333 MHz system bus speed for its quad-core processors, since this pushes the bottleneck threat back for the time being.

Xeon Clovertown Architecture

If you are interested in architecture details of the Core 2 micro architecture (which powers the new Xeon), we recommend our IDF Spring 2006 article: IDF Spring 2006: Will Intel's Core Architecture Close the Technology Gap?.


Talkback
Be the first to comment on this review!

Note You are going to post a comment as anonymous.



  •
Submit my comment