The answer is: E5345. I believe. I'd like a confirmation.

I did my own homework.

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/PE2950_SS_072007.pdf
tells me the PE2950 server can take "Up to two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 sequence processors at up to 3.0GHz;".

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/prodbrief/xeon-5300.pdf
tells me, on page 5, a list of 5300 sequence processors. There is only one at the 2.33 GHz speed, that's the "Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5345".

2950 III also accepts 5400 series processors which leaves the following possibilities

E5345 8MB 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz DP 80W 4
L5410 12MB 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz DP 50W 4
E5410 12MB 2.33 GHz 1333 MHz DP 80W 4

We typically deploy the L5410 for growth servers as it is a low voltage processor (50W diss vs 80w diss). Since there is a pretty significant wattage difference there, we will need to power test these devices. Is there anything against me physically taking a look at the processor to pull the model? Can I pop the hood, or will that void warranty?

The answer

CPU: Intel Quad Core Xeon E5410 Processor 2x6MB Cache, 2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, PE2950
1 CPU for C360 and
2 CPU for C660.

I am really surprised IronPort didn't go with the low volt proc given it has the exact same specs minus power consumption!

Hello -

I am glad that you were able to research this off-line. Of course our mail servers are quite.busy and on all.the.time so a low-voltage route might mean some kind of other trade-off.

But you raise an interesting point that is hot especially within the greater Cisco world! Please raise this power consumption concern with your Cisco IronPort sales account team so they can voice your business needs with our product management team. They may even have a new strategy for your organization to reduce power consumption!

Thanks!

Andrew Wurster