Geek Tested:

AMD Launches 40W, Six-Core Opterons

Posted 08/31/09 at 08:00:34 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD over the weekend added to its Opteron line with a new series boasting six-cores and a low 40W ACP. That's the same power rating as AMD's quad-core chips released in April of this year.

"Unlike other chips manufactured by the competition [Intel Xeon], our six-core Opteron retains certain, much-loved features that are consistent with AMD's quad-core iteration," AMD spokesperson Brent Kerby told TGDaily. "For example, we have not reduced the memory speed, bus support, hyperthreading, or cache size. As such, deployment of the 40W Opteron will undoubtedly extend well beyond Cloud 2.0 and social media environments."

Remarkably, the wattage breaks down to about 6.67W per core. As John Fruehe, Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD, points out in a blog post, single-core processors consumed up to 58W per core just six years ago.

But it's not all about power savings. Compared to AMD's quad-core Opteron, the company claims the new six-core part offers up to 30 percent better performance, while significantly lowering memory investment in Cloud computing servers compared to Intel's Xeon platform.

No word yet on price or availability.

Image Credit: AMD

COMMENTS:6

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I can't wait for a Phenom II
Submitted by gendoikari1 on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 12:42pm

I can't wait for a Phenom II x6 part, but this can do. Or, if you can put two hex-core Opterons together and get something that rivals Skulltrail, but without the oppressive pricing (the two procs+mobo cost $3700 US). Get to work on it, AMD!

And also, future Opteron chips come with 8, 12 (Magny-Cours) and even 16 (Interlagos) cores. I hope developers work on multi-core optimizing so that the Interlagos would be useful.

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Excellent!
Submitted by Trooper_One on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 11:14am

O goodie, I'm thinking of assembling a new machine after x-mas! I was looking forward to an AMD alternative and this one looks mighty promising to play with!

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Hyperthreading on a AMD
Submitted by burntjuggalas on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 10:26am

Hyperthreading on a AMD proc? no wai =D lol typo im sure =P "we have not reduced the memory speed, bus support, hyperthreading, or cache size."

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i think its supposed to be
Submitted by sasquatch42 on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 5:01pm

i think its supposed to be hypertransport

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hope it is a money maker
Submitted by jihnn on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 7:13am

given enough time amd enthusiasts chips will be @ the same lvl as intells.

hope this part gets amd more market share

i am waiting on the return of amd to the top dog position

amd fanboy.... yep thats me

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