Proving that it no longer aspires to making chips hotter than the surface of the sun, Intel has pushed out new, low-voltage versions of its best Xeon chip.

Server customers will now have access to a pair of 50W Xeon chips. The products consume between 35 per cent and 60 per cent less power than existing four-core Xeons which run between 80W and 120W. The lower power processors mark a continued effort on Intel's part to serve makers of compact, cooler systems.

Those interested in the new chips will want to look for the 1.86GHz L5320 and the 1.60GHz L5310. Both chips have 8MB of on die cache and 1066MHz front sides buses. The L5320 costs $519 in volume, while the L5310 costs $455.

The new kit can be slotted into existing "Bensley" platform servers that run on standard dual- and quad-core parts today.

The likes of Dell, IBM, HP and Rackable Systems will put the low-power chips in systems over the next few months. ®

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