Intel Xeon X5660 's Advantages
Higher base frequency (2.8GHz vs 2.7GHz)
Lower TDP (95W vs 130W)
Intel Xeon E5 2697 v2 's Advantages
Released 3 years and 6 months late
Newer PCIe version (3 vs 2)
Larger L3 cache size (30MB vs 12MB)
More modern manufacturing process (22nm vs 32nm)