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.

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Posted 07/13/09 at 09:03:04 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD hasn't put up much of a fight in the desktop market, but when it comes to the server sector, the scrappy chip maker is giving Intel everything it's got. Adding to its arsenal, AMD is launching new versions of its Opteron HE and SE series, both of which will add to its existing six-core lineup.

AMD first launched a six-core chip on June 1, 2009, six months ahead of schedule. According to the chip maker, these new ones boast 18 percent better performance per watt than the original models, though that doesn't necessarily mean a low wattage design.

On the contrary, the high-performance Opteron SE will consume 105W and is being aimed at those who need performance more than power savings. The low-power Opteron HE, however, will consume just 55W and will likely find a home in cloud computing data centers.

The HE chips will run anywhere from $455 to $1,019, while the SE will cost $1,514 to $2,649.

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Posted 07/03/09 at 09:04:37 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD has its head in the cloud, and that may not be such a bad thing. The chip maker this week released another Opteron 1000 Series processor, codenamed Suzuka, with performance per watt and compatibility taking center stage.

"The flexibility of four cores and a low-cost infrastructure gives customers an edge when designing for a cost-effective or power-efficient platform," John Freuhe, director of business development for server and workstation products at AMD, wrote in a blog post.

Suzuka, which was designed for cloud computing, Web servers, small business servers, and other applications where lower power consumption is the primary focus, runs at 2.9GHz with 6MB of cache. And because Suzuka is based on the same core as Shanghai, existing AM2 platforms should only need a BIOS update to run the chip.

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Posted 04/14/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Paul Lilly

Believe it or not, your terrifically fast Core i7 fresh off Intel's assembly line contains DNA that dates back over three decades. The same is true if you roll with AMD's latest silicon, the Phenom II X4. We're of course referring to the longstanding x86 microprocessor architecture that has dominated the desktop and mobile scene since before some of you were even born, and will probably be a mainstay still yet for many more years to come.

Invented by Intel in 1978, the x86 architecture has evolved through the ages, not only getting faster, but increasingly flexible as more and more extensions and instruction sets accompany each new release. It's been a wild ride the past 30 years, and whether you lived through it all or have only recently picked up your first processor, we invite you to join as we look back at not only the most popular x86 CPUs in its history, but ones you may never even have heard of.

Buckle up, sit back, and join us after the jump for a look back at the x86 timeline.

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Posted 11/14/08 at 09:45:38 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD has released its new Shanghai platform, signaling a move to 45nm. The first chips out the door are quad-core Opteron parts, which AMD claims will deliver up to 35 percent more performance and up to a 35 percent decrease in power consumption when idle.

"This enhanced AMD Opteron processor represents the most dramatic performance and performance-per-watt increases for AMD products since the introduction of the world's first x86 dual-core processors nearly four years ago," Randy Allen, AMD senior VP for Computing Solutions Group, said in a statement. "Simply put, the quad-core AMD Opteron is the right technology at the right time."

Shanghai, which is essentially a refresh of Barcelona and not an entirely new architecture, supports DDR2-800 memory and comes with a tweaked Direct Connect Architecture. The current batch of 75-watt Shanghai chips will be followed up by a launch of 55-watt Opteron and an SE 105-watt part in Q1 2009. And according to CNet, a desktop platform (codenamed Dragon) consisting of 45nm Shanghai desktop CPUs along with AMD 700 series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 4000 graphics will also see the light of day in the same time frame and attempt to compete with Intel's Core i7 platform.

Will Shanghai get AMD back on track? Hit the jump and give us your take.

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Posted 09/19/07 at 04:33:19 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

As Intel details new Nehalem and Penryn CPUs, AMD shoots back with tri-core CPUs. We wonder if FASN8 will survive?

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