Intel conducted proof-of-concept testing and total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis to assess the virtualization capabilities of Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series. A server based on Intel® Xeon® processor X5570 delivered up to 2.6x the performance and up to 2.05x the performance per watt of a server based on Intel® Xeon® processor E5450, resulting in the ability to support approximately twice as many virtual machines for the same TCO. Download Virtualization with the Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500 Series: A Proof of Concept (877KB, PDF) to get the specifics.


And so If I buy a blade server with two of these processors …is it5.3 times the number of VMs I can run on such a blade as the old blade with simplytwo zeons?
Robert, the system configurations in the white paper were similar in that the older Xeon 5400-based system had two processors, and the newer Xeon 5500-based system had two processors. The newer system is able to support approximately 2 times the number of VM as the old system.