Woodcrest chip is faster and uses less electricity
Agence-France Presse
Province
Tom Kilroy of Intel Corp. displays company’s new Xeon 5100 chip that is twice as fast as previous ones. Photograph by : The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. computer-chip maker Intel began shipping yesterday a speedy, power-efficient processor it claimed would turn the tables on arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices.
“We’re back to a position we are used to having — undeniable leadership in the area of performance,” Intel vice-president Tom Kilroy told a briefing of analysts and the press in San Francisco.
“It’s an exciting day. Our end customers were waiting for this.”
Kilroy touted its freshly released Xeon 5100 series chips as the “fastest dual-processor ramp” in Intel’s history.
The chips, branded Woodcrest, outperformed the best competitor AMD had to offer while using less power, according to Intel.
The Woodcrest was up to 60-per-cent faster than competing chips and got as much as 80 per cent more performance per watt, Kilroy said, citing results gotten by “seed companies” that have tested the processors.
“This is really mind-boggling performance with energy savings as well,” Kilroy said.
During an onstage demonstration in a hotel conference room, a system powered by a Woodcrest processor was pitted against one with AMD’s top Opteron chip.
The Intel system completed a complex financial-risk computer application quicker and used less electricity. Kilroy conceded that Intel has struggled to stave off competition during the past 18 months but said the Silicon Valley company has held on to its relationships with business customers.
© The Vancouver Province 2006