Lenovo

On Tuesday, Lenovo introduced a pair of new workstation model lines with a focus on green computing, using workstation versions of the new Nehalem processor architecture that makes up the Core i7.

The ThinkStation D20 and S20 are aimed at high-end developers and users, like the game developers attending this week's Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco this week.

A full fifteen Intel Xeon processor models are available to use, including the new "Gainestown" architecture. They include five dual-core and quad-core W35xx Xeons (2.4-GHz to 3.2 GHz, either 4 or 8 Mbytes of cache, 4.8 QPI), five quad-core E55xx Xeons (2.0-GHz to 2.53 GHz, with 4/8-MB of cache, 4.8-5.8 QPI), three quad-core X55xx Xeons (2.66-GHz to 2.93-GHz) and the Intel Xeon W5580, a 3.2-GHz chip with 8 MB of cache and a 6.4 QPI. (QPI replaces the front-side bus speed; the link is measured in gigatransfers per second, from a minimum of 4.8 to 6.4. In throughput terms, those rates equal 24 to 32 Gbytes/s.)

Intel has scheduled a press conference for next Monday to formally introduce the new Nehalem-based Xeon chips.

Most of the new Nehalem chips include a capability called "turbo boost," useful for gaming applications. In a single-threaded game, if no other cores are being used, the system will clock the single core up by about 133 MHz, according to Ming Xie, Lenovo;s worldwide ThinkStation product manager. Conversely, if the system is sitting idle, the workstation will power-manage itself to save power.

The D20 can run as quietly as to produce just 24 decibels, quieter than ambient room noise, via an improved case design and airflow routing.

Both chasses are green, as well: both use 50 percent recycled plastic content, and both use at least 26 percent post-consumer plastic content, equivalent to 19 water bottles, executives said. Both also boast EPEAT Gold, GREENGuard, RoHS, and Energy Star 5.0 compliance.

The D20 and S20 are available with Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro professional workstation graphics, and can be equipped with Nvidia's Tesla C1060 GPU co-processor platform. The D20 and S20 are ISV certified, and can run Windows Vista, XP or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2.

The S20 starts at $1,070 and the D20 starts at $1,550. Lenovo is targeting the Computer Aided Design (CAD), Digital Content Creation (DCC) and engineering design automation fields with these two workstation lines.