Gelsinger: Intel's Woodcrest will be a game changer

Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manger of the Digital Enterprise Group discuss the server processor roadmap. Lots of code names. He expects the Woodcrest chip to be a "game changer" in the server market. "With Dempsey [a dual core Xeon based on Pentium 4 technology] we got parity nominally with Opteron, and Woodcrest is about 30 to 40 percent more performance [than Dempsey]. Even with [speed] bumps in Opteron, it's a huge leap, and low power," Gelsinger said. Due in the third quarter, a low-voltage Woodcrest consumes about 40 watts and will run at 2.33Ghz, and there is an 80 watt part. A quad Woodcrest, Clovertown, is due in early 2007.