In addition to the two Core 2 Extreme QX9-series CPUs, Intel has also just launched a number of Xeons based on the Penryn architecture. There are 12 Xeon 5400-series CPUs scheduled for release over the next few months, although Intel was only able to send us two samples - the quad-core Xeon X5482 and E5462 - in time for this Labs test.
As these two models have a 1,600MHz effective dual FSB, they're only supported by motherboards based on the new Intel 5400 chipset, such as the SuperMicro X7DWA-N, reviewed separately on p44. However, lower-spec Xeon 5400-series models will be available in 1,333MHz effective dual FSB and 1,066MHz effective dual FSB variants, and will work in standard LGA771 motherboards based on the Intel 5000-series of chipsets used by Xeon 5100 and 5300-series CPUs.
The Penryn architecture of the X5482 and E5462 gives them an edge over their Xeon 5300-series predecessors. For starters, each pair of cores now shares 6MB of Level 2 cache, compared to 4MB per pair of cores for a Xeon 5300-series CPU. Architectural improvements, such as the new radix-16 divider and a Super Shuffle Engine, also mean that a pair of 2.8GHz E5462s significantly outperforms a pair of 3GHz X5365 CPUs. This is a pretty amazing achievement, especially when you consider that a pair of E5462s is much cheaper than a pair of X5365s. As such, it should come as no surprise that nothing can match the brute performance of a pair of X5482s, especially when running CPU-intensive tasks such as Folding@home or 3D rendering. For example, the X5482s achieved the highest non-overclocked video encoding score we've seen - a majestic 2,225, which is nearly double the score achieved by a pair of Opteron 2222s, AMDs fastest workstation CPU.
As the Xeon 5400-series CPUs are made using 45nm transistors, they're also more energy-efficient than their Xeon 5300-series predecessors.As such, if you're building a high-performance workstation or server, the only real choice is a pair of Xeon E5462 or X5482 CPUs.
On a side note, the X5482s provides a good sneak peak of how well the Skulltrail platform will perform when it's launched early next year. This is because Skulltrail will use a pair of X5482s in which the prefetchers have been tuned for games and desktop applications.
Author: James Gorbold
Intel Xeon 5400-series