Based on the latest generation Intel® microarchitecture (codenamed Sandy Bridge), the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 series is the frst Intel® platform to offer solutions ranging from eight-core/single-socket up to 16-core/two-socket, providing signifcant performance improvement over previous-generation Intel Xeon proces-sors. For example, the eight-core Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2658∆ delivers nearly 68 percent performance gain over the previous-generation six-core Intel® Xeon® processor E5645∆,1 within a similar plat- form thermal profle. Increased memory capacity is provided with four memory channels per processor and up to 1600 MHz DDR3 memory.

This is the frst dual-socket server-class Intel® processor series with PCI Express* 3.02 integrated on the processor die, to boost performance, reduce latency and save power. Integrated PCI Express 3.0 saves board real estate over previous-generation three-chip platforms by elimi-nating the need for a separate I/O hub