Intel announces ‘eco-friendly’ Xeon chips

Intel has released four new Xeon processors for servers, which it says are its first to be free of halogen as part of its strategy to reduce the environmental impact of its products.

Three of the new processors form part of the quad-core Intel Xeon 5400 series line-up. These are the X5492, the X5470 and the L5430. The X5492 has a clock speed of 3.4GHz, runs on a 1,600MHz front-side bus and draws 150 watts. At the other end of the scale the low voltage 2.66GHz L5430 uses 50 watts of power or 12.5 watts per core. The fourth processor is the dual-core Intel Xeon X5270 hits 3.5GHz but draws only 80 watts.

The chip firm says that companies using workstation, high-performance, blade and mainstream servers will benefit most from the increased versatility of its processors.

"Intel continues to expand its R&D efforts in eco-innovation while delivering unmatched versatility and performance," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's server platforms group. "Customers using these new Xeon processors will not only benefit from greater performance and energy efficiency within existing platforms, but they will be the very first to use Intel's halogen-free technology."

Pricing for the quad-core processors in trays of 1,000 was given as follows: L5430 (2.66GHz) - $562 (318.78), X5470 (3.3GHz) - $1,386 (786.40), X5492 (3.4GHz) - $1,493 (846), and $1,172 (664.48) for the dual-core X5270 (3.5GHz).

Benny Har-Even

Benny Har-Even is a twenty-year stalwart of technology journalism who is passionate about all areas of the industry, but telecoms and mobile and home entertainment are among his chief interests. He has written for many of the leading tech publications in the UK, such as PC Pro and Wired, and previously held the position of technology editor at ITPro before regularly contributing as a freelancer.

Known affectionately as a ‘geek’ to his friends, his passion has seen him land opportunities to speak about technology on BBC television broadcasts, as well as a number of speaking engagements at industry events.