Intel yesterday previewed the next big, bad Xeon chip based on the latest 45nm high-k metal gate technology process, codenamed Nahelem-EX.

The Nehalem-EX chip features up to eight cores inside a single chip, and thanks to HyperThreading will support 16 threads. I’ll also pack an impressive 24 MB of cache.

Intel boasts that the “performance increase will be dramatic, posting the highest-ever jump from a previous generation processor,” with “up to nine times the memory bandwidth of the previous-generation Intel Xeon 7400 platform.”

The upcoming chip will also inherit reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features traditionally found in the Itanium processor family, such as Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery.

Those looking to build serious servers out of the Nehalem-EX will be able to build systems that scale up to eight-sockets that are capable of processing 128 threads simultaneously.

Each CPU socket will also support 16 memory slots, doubling what was possible in the previous generation, and offer four high-bandwidth QuickPath Interconnect links.

Intel and IBM have provided a short introduction video showing off (very briefly) a server system running the aforementioned eight-socket, 128 thread setup.

Nehalem-EX is scheduled for production in the second half of 2009.