Sunnyvale (ip-192.com): AMD hopes to make servers more affordable with its new Opteron 6000 server platform. The Opteron 6100 processor lineup currently consists of 10 chips with either 8 or 12 cores for the high volume 2P and value 4P server market. Since Microsoft licenses are based on processors and not cores, more processing power can help companies to keep fees in check.
Based on the 45-nanometer process, the processors offer clock speeds from 1.7 to 2.4 GHz. The new chips will costs $455 for the 8-core, 1.8 GHz version (65 watt) and $1,386 for the 12-core, 2.3 GHz (105 watt) chip in quantities of 1,000 units. Performance will increase by 119 percent on average, compared to AMD’s earlier generation of server chips, and power consumption will remain constant. However, the chips are twice as fast as AMD’s previous line of six-core processors introduced in 2009.
All models support four-socket configurations and four channels of DDR3 SDRAM. 12 MB of L3 cache (2x 6 MB) and 8 or 12 x 512 KB L2 cache helps to speed up transfers. The Opteron 6100 series supports Hyper Transport 3.0 and new power management features.
Computer manufacturer Acer will be among the first to sell servers based on the Opteron 6100 series in Asia and Europe. The Taiwanese company currently ranks second in overall sales after outselling Dell in 2009, according to IDC. Most other major manufacturers including Dell, HP, SGI and Cray have signed deals with AMD, which means more servers build around the Opteron 6100 series can be expected.
[...] Xeon 7500; shortly after AMD introduced its new Opteron 6000 server platform (ip-192.com reported here. Based on 45 nm manufacturing technology, the new eight-core processor series features 16 threads [...]