AMD releases quad-core Opterons.

primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
edited September 2007 in Science & Tech
Billing it as "the first native x86 quad-core microprocessor", AMD today announced the Opteron beast that is intended to take back the performance crown from rival Intel.

Calling it the first "native x86 quad-core" is a dig at Intel's "glued together dual core" method of producing their current quad core processors. According to their <a href="http://www.amd.com//us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~119768,00.html">press release</a>:

<blockquote>"Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with AMD’s revolutionary Direct Connect Architecture introduce innovations that go beyond four x86 processing cores on a single die of silicon."</blockquote>

Top tier server vendors Sun Microsystems, HP, Dell, and IBM announced servers based on the new Opterons today.

The press release mentions December as a general release time for the desktop quad core line called "Phenom".

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    Let's hope non-disclosure agreements are over and we can now start seeing real performance figures. Regardless, the next couple of weeks should prove interesting in the tech news.
  • ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    Leonardo wrote:
    ...the next couple of weeks should prove interesting in the tech news.

    Definitely! I will be watching the developments with much scrutiny; as I may hold off on buying the Intel Quad 6600 , if the Barcelona(Quad Core Opteron) really proves to have a 40% improvement over the Intel Quads as AMD has been claiming it will.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    I want reviews NOW damn it, they should have been pouring out seconds after the NDA lifted! :)
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited September 2007
    RWB wrote:
    I want reviews NOW damn it, they should have been pouring out seconds after the NDA lifted! :)

    Early returns
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2007
    Anandtech has a first stage assessment up as well. They are not nearly done with testing yet, so are not calling it a review. Definitely not full of praise, but not negative in tone either:
    Considering that AMD prices this Opteron 2350 under the Xeon 5345, AMD has an attractive price/performance offering for most applications.
    AMD's hopes for power consumption efficiency were on track it, appears:
    At idle, the Opteron 2350 platform uses significantly less power than the Xeon setup, a decrease of about 44%. While Intel will be able to drop its power consumption with the move to 45nm, the impact won't be great enough to close this gap.
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