Nehalem - Core i7 vs Xeon

[spacemonkey]

Regarding the specs table on this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(microarchitecture)

Could someone please explain the difference between the Xeon W3570 and the Core i7 Extreme 965? The specs seem to be identical.

[BRiT]

Support for ECC memory and locked multiplier.

[ShaidarHaran]

Qualified for servers/workstation platforms etc...

[spacemonkey]

Thank you, thank you.

One more question: in the Core i7's QPI section - does "Unlocked to 6.4 GT/s since release" mean it was unlocked by Intel or by users/overclockers?

[Davros]

Qualified for servers/workstation platforms etc...

what exactly does that mean ?

[ShaidarHaran]

what exactly does that mean ?

Goes through more rigorous testing, designed to operate in different thermal conditions (often times different TDP).

[ShaidarHaran]

Thank you, thank you.

One more question: in the Core i7's QPI section - does "Unlocked to 6.4 GT/s since release" mean it was unlocked by Intel or by users/overclockers?

Intel did it.

[bowman]

All the Xeon models are a newer stepping, D0 or something. The first i7s were C0s.

Also as someone already said the Xeons get binned better for lower TDP and power consumption.

[BRiT]

The Xeons usually do, but in this case the TDPs are identical and the newer i7s also are stepping D0.

[Thorburn]

I BELIEVE the W5580 can hit its top Turbo Mode frequency (3.46GHz) with two cores under load, i7-965 is only for 1 core under load, 3.33GHz with more - thats apparently the case with the X5570 vs. i7-940 anyway.

That and Xeon 5500 parts are dual socket chip, i7's are single socket.

[embargiel]

Anybody knows if dual non-server Nehalem system has been announced?

[rpg.314]

Mac Pro?

[Thorburn]

Intel's S5520SC board is a 'workstation' board, dual processor, 6 memory slots per channel, 2 x PEG slots.

[embargiel]

I think Mac Pro is using Xeon Nehalem, which is a server class processor. There is an equivalent of Mac Pro in PC world as well (Xeon 5500 series). I was just wondering if a dual core desktop Nehalem system (Core i7) has been announced.

[rpg.314]

To my knowledge, no.

Fudo reported a while ago though that Intel had dropped plans for a nehalem skulltrail.

[Thorburn]

Nothing to stop you making your own however, as I said the S5520SC has everything you need for a desktop system and supports CrossFire, but not SLI.

[embargiel]

Nothing to stop you making your own however, as I said the S5520SC has everything you need for a desktop system and supports CrossFire, but not SLI.

Yeah, but surely you have to use the 5500 series instead of Core i7 with that motherboard?

[Thorburn]

Yeah, but surely you have to use the 5500 series instead of Core i7 with that motherboard?

Yes, but then SkullTrail didn't take LGA775 Core 2 chips either.

[Davros]

Nothing to stop you making your own however, as I said the S5520SC has everything you need for a desktop system and supports CrossFire, but not SLI.

I thought nv had now stopped all that nonsense on i7 and later boards?

[Thorburn]

On X58 boards you have to pay a fee per board I believe for an 'SLI key' which is inserted in to the BIOS, don't pay and SLI won't work.

I think perhaps Quadro cards don't have this limitation, but desktop cards do.

[homerdog]

All Gigabyte and MSI X58s support SLI now, even the ones that didn't feature it on release. Dunno if that was NVIDIA dropping the restrictions or Gigabyte and MSI paying up.

[Thorburn]

Just as a side note, dropped a Xeon X5570 in to a ASUS P6T SE today and it worked just fine, but only with unregistered DDR3. So...
1) Xeon 5500's will work in i7 boards
2) i7 or Xeon 3500's will not work in dual socket boards (not enough QPI links)
3) Motherboard as well as CPU support is required to use registered memory