AMD releases quad-core Opterons for one-socket servers, workstations

The microprocessor challenger stressed that OEMs such as HP and Dell will incorporate the new processors in upcoming platforms, while supercomputer giant Cray is now shipping the quad-core Opteron 1300 Series processor-based XT4 system.

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 6/3/2008

With the aim of addressing demand for higher performing, uni-processor x86 solutions, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based microprocessor challenger Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) today launched three quad-core Opteron 1300 series processors for one-socket servers and workstations.

AMD stressed that OEMs such as HP and Dell will incorporate the new processors in upcoming platforms, while supercomputer giant Cray is now shipping the quad-core Opteron 1300 Series processor-based XT4 system.

Patrick Patla, director for AMD’s server and workstation business said the company is committed to helping commercial customers that rely on 1P server and workstation solutions to take advantage of the same enterprise-class performance and energy-efficiency that power the largest global businesses. “The quad-core AMD Opteron 1300 Series processors are designed to address the key customer priorities of performance, performance-per-watt and performance-per-dollar,” he said in a statement.

While AMD is focusing these quad-core processors (pictured left) on servers and workstations, chip leader Intel Corp today unveiled its own quad-core processors aimed at mobile Internet devices including netbooks and nettops.

The quad-core Opteron models 1352 (2.1GHz), 1354 (2.2GHz), and 1356 (2.3GHz) processors are meant to help allow small to mid-size businesses meet growing IT and budgetary demands while increasing business productivity. They contain AMD’s native quad-core architecture and thermal requirements as previous Opteron 1000 series processors, along with power management and virtualization features such as Enhanced AMD PowerNow! technology and Rapid Virtualization Indexing in order to help maximize IT resources and grow with business demands.

AMD addresses high-performance computing

Built on AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture that aims to eliminate front-side bus architecture bottlenecks (such as found in Intel processors) AMD said its quad-core Opteron 1300 series processors aim to allow the world-class performance, scalability and overall system efficiency necessary to power one of the world’s largest high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory more than doubled the compute performance of its Cray XT4 system, code-named “Jaguar,” to more than 260 teraflops to help advance scientific research by upgrading to by upgrading to the new quad-core Opterons.

Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray added in a statement, “AMD’s industry-leading native multi-core architecture and Same Socket Technology help Cray deliver the world’s most scalable and upgradeable supercomputers, enabling our customers to tackle the most challenging scientific and engineering problems of our time. The collaboration between Cray and AMD continues to bring new levels of scalability and sustained performance to high performance computing, as shown by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s recent upgrade to its Cray XT4 system to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, which is one of the fastest and most efficient supercomputers in the world today.”