Some details of Ivy Bridge-EP and -EN Xeon CPUs

Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors for two-way systems, that became available at the end of the first quarter, were based on Sandy Bridge-EP core. These CPUs integrated up to 8 cores, up to 20 MB L3 cache, quad-channel memory controller and 2 QPI links. In May Intel released E5-4600 series for quad-processor servers, that utilized the same Sandy Bridge-EP core. Also in May, Intel introduced Sandy Bridge-EN CPUs, which had reduced set of features. For instance, EN models had triple-channel memory controller, and only one QPI link.

Next generation of Xeon E5 processors will make use of Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, and they will also have -EP and -EN cores. The Xeons will receive suffix "v2", therefore instead of current E5-1600, E5-2400, E5-2600 and E5-4600 families there will be E5-1600 v2, E5-2400 v2, E5-2600 v2 and E5-4600 v2. We found more details for embedded Ivy Bridge EP / EN processors, which should also apply to non-embedded chips.

Based on that information, which is about 2 - 3 months old, the Ivy Bridge EP and EN CPUs will have up to 10 cores. 10-core SKUs are going to have TDP as low as 70 Watt, and there will be also 95 Watt versions of these chips. 8-core -EP and -EN processors will have TDP as low as 60 Watt. Low-power quad- and hexa-core Xeons will come with 45 Watt TDP. Ivy Bridge-EP/-EN products should be available in late first half, or early second half 2013. Bear in mind that this information is somewhat old, and more recent roadmap doesn't show Ivy Bridge Xeons in the second quarter 2013.