Servers using new Intel 5500 Processors are on their way

13 Apr 2009 by Simon Haslam (in General)

Servers incorporating the new Intel 5500 series 'Nehalem' processors are now appearing - the parts are listed with distribution (e.g. HP DL380 G6 or BL460c G6 blade, IBM x3650 M2, Sun TBC - see Sun UK launch) and deliveries are expected within a few weeks. This is excellent news for customers aiming to get more out of their Oracle Application Server licences!

QuickPath Interconnect (Intel's version of AMD's HyperTransport memory architecture) looks set to dramatically improve performance, coupled with DDR3 1333 MHz memory, and (possibly) the return of hyper-threading. There are also improvements to power management (an area that AMD's Opteron quads were much stronger in) and further virtualisation enhancements.

Whilst the clock speeds have not yet reached the 3GHz+ of the 5400 series I would expect it's only a matter of time before they do. The Register has very positive things to say about some initial TPC-C benchmarks.

If you are considering x86-64 hardware replacement you should almost certainly be waiting for Intel 5500-based systems now (and don't be tempted by offers on 5400 based servers!). Whether we will see something comparable from AMD this year remains to be seen.

BTW: the consensus appears to be that Nehalem is pronounced nay-hay-lum. Apparently.