AMD Introduces Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors
AMD today introduced the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor, its most advanced x86 processor ever designed and manufactured and the first native x86 quad-core microprocessor.
According to the press release, Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with AMD's Direct Connect Architecture introduce the following innovations: energy efficiency with a 50-percent increase in integer and floating-point performance, enhanced virtualization performance, and investment protection via a customer-centric approach enabling non-disruptive transitions from dual- to quad-core within the same power and thermal envelopes to help keep infrastructure costs down.
The new Quad-Core Opteron processors are introduced today at the 55- and 75-watt ACP (see below). For system designers, AMD will continue to state its TDP specifications.
The new power-saving technologies include:
- AMD CoolCore Technology, for reducing energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor;
- Independent Dynamic Core Technology, an enhancement to AMD PowerNow! technology, allowing each core to vary its clock frequency depending on the specific performance requirement of the applications it is supporting;
- Dual Dynamic Power Management (DDPM), which provides an independent power supply to the cores and to the memory controller, allowing the cores and memory controllers to operate on different voltages, determined by usage. DDPM is available in most Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based platforms being introduced today.
Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based systems from global OEM and system-builder partners begin shipping this month and are expected to increase in number through the remainder of the year. AMD Phenom processor solutions, which will leverage many of the same benefits of this architecture, are expected to be available for the desktop market in December.
More than 50 socket compatible Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-ready system choices are on the market today from tier one OEMs, all of whom are publicly supporting today's introduction. Systems based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are also being announced today by a host of other manufacturers, including Appro, Egenera, Gateway, Rackable Systems, Supermicro and Verari.
AMD also today introduced the Average CPU Power (ACP) metric, which represents processor power usage, including cores, integrated memory controller, and HyperTransport technology links, while running a suite of typical and relevant commercially useful high utilization workloads to be more indicative of the power consumption that end-users can expect. ACP is a useful metric for data center operators when estimating power budgets to size their datacenters. AMD will continue to provide thermal design power (TDP) specifications to platform designers in AMD power and thermal datasheets.
Source: AMD
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