Woodcrest is the dual-core Xeon processor, which has the new Intel "Core Microarchitecture" aimed at increasing the speed of data transfer through the processor and supporting chipset.

Mike Thomson, head of 3D at animation studio zspace in Australia, said the company's new Woodcrest-based server was nearly twice as fast as the numbers "say it should be", and rendering is four times as fast as the older system.

Comparing zspace's new two-way 2.66GHz dual-core Intel Xeon processor with a 5000P (codenamed 'Bensley') chipset to a two-way 2.2GHz Xeon-based system, processing a test 5000 pixel square image took about 7 minutes rather than 33 minutes.

Woodcrest also provides both 32-bit and 64-bit capabilities, which gives zspace the option of adding more memory when its key applications, like Maya and Mental Ray, support 64-bit.

"Using 32-bit systems at the moment, we're kind of limited," Thomson said. "When we start doing particle simulations, we can hit the roof and run out of memory on the third or fourth frame. If we want to do millions of particles, or a complex crowd simulator, we can get really bogged down. With 64-bit servers, we will be able to install as much RAM as we can afford, then use almost unlimited numbers of particles."