14 DAY TRIAL // A recent development at Intel has provided us enough incentive to be all but certain about the latest rumors surrounding the Intel Xeon E7 v3 series of central processing units.
Those keeping an eye on such things might be aware of the development of the Xeon E7 v3 processors, bearing the codename Haswell-EX.
The processors will have up to 18 cores and clocks of 1.9 GHz to 2.8 GHz. Not counting the single 4-core chip that manages 3.2 GHz, but we digress.
The report only had partial information about the chips, but it did at least say that they would be released next quarter. That's the second quarter of 2015, or the April-June period.
Intel has not officially confirmed the reports, but it did something that may as well be just as good: it released product change notifications for the Xeon E7 chips already out.
More specifically, Intel has released change notices for the first generation Xeon E7 processors, saying their production will be discontinued.
No more first-gen Xeon E7 chips
The list is considerable really, including such names as E7-4807, E7-4820, E7-4830, E7-4850, E7-4860 and E7-4870.
Those are only the processors used in single-socket servers and workstations though. Nearing the end of their lives are the Xeon units for dual-socket servers as well: Xeon E7-2803, E7-2820, E7-2830, E7-2850, E7-2860 and E7-2870.
Then there are the really big computers, with up to eight sockets. That is where the E7-8800 series shines. The series that is about to lose the E7-8830, E7-8837, E7-8850, E7-8860, E7-8867L and E7-8870 models.
All in all, it is pretty clear that most of the processors based on the Nehalem architecture are being phased out in favor of the new ones.
What this means for system admins
While production will be discontinued soon, orders will still be accepted until August 21, 2015, so there isn't a big rush yet. Most advisable would be to wait for the new generation and see whether or not they are better off with that one.
So long as supplies last, shipments will even continue until February 2, 2018, though the boxed E7-4830 and E7-4870 chips will be gone much sooner, on February 5, 2016.