Intel speeds up virtualization tasks by 25-75% with new 45nm CPUs

Quoting from the Intel official announcement:

Built using an entirely new transistor formula that alleviates the wasteful electricity leaks that threaten the pace of future computer innovation, Intel Corporation today unveiled 16 server and high-end PC processors.

Called the biggest transistor advancements in 40 years by Intel Co-Founder Gordon Moore, the processors are the first to use Intel’s Hafnium-based high-k metal gate (Hi-k) formula for the hundreds of millions of transistors inside these processors. These Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme and Xeon® processors are also the first to be manufactured on the company’s 45-nanometer (nm) manufacturing process, further boosting performance and lowering power consumption.

New to the Intel line-up of server processors are 15 server dual-core and quad-core 45nm Hi-k Intel Xeon processors. The 12 new quad-core chips boast clock speeds ranging from 2GHz up to 3.20GHz, with front side bus speeds (FSB) up to 1600MHz, and cache sizes of 12MB. The three new dual-core chips feature clock speeds of up to 3.40GHz, an FSB of up to 1600MHz, and cache sizes of 6MB.

Additional processor performance enhancing architectural features include:

  • Enhanced Intel Virtualization Technology — Virtual machine transition (entry/exit) times are improved by an average of 25 to 75 percent through hardware with no changes to software required.