Understanding differences in recent Intel Core i7 desktop and server Xeon processors

Some hardware information for a change, something that all developers should be aware. I'm sure you've heard of Intel's "Nehalem" products, like Core i7 desktop processors and their server counterparts, Xeon 3500 and 5500 series.

If you are thinking of a new workstation or a server, these new processors are simply great, with lots of number crunching power. But, what is the difference of these models? I won't go into nitty-gritty detail here, but shortly put, the i7 series (especially the 9xx line) is aimed at high-end workstations and the Xeons are for servers.

But what do the server processors have in addition to i7, as the price is steeper? Shortly put, Xeons support error-correcting ECC memory. If you need that, you must get a Xeon. Second important difference comes from the support for double-processor systems. Only the higher model number Xeon 55xx supports that. The cheaper 35xx models only support single socket systems.