Gizmodo: opteron

AMD's Quad-Core "Shanghai" Server Opterons Go 45nm, Desktop Version In '09

Kit Eaton — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:05:40 EST

AMD's just revealed its quad-core Opteron chips manufactured with its new 45nm process. Based on the "Barcelona" chipset, the new "Shanghai" chips have a few extra tweaks: the L3 cache has risen from 2 to 6MB, giving it about 35% boosted power performance over the previous generation. The new chips also have better power management, meaning they can draw up to 35% less power under idle conditions, are compatible with DDR2-800 memory for faster memory accessing, and are backwards compatible with existing Socket-1207 mounting. These 75W server chips are out now, between 2.3 and 2.7 GHz clock speeds, and a desktop variety, dubbed "Dragon" is due early 2009. [AMD and PCWatch]

AMD Launches Quad-Core Opteron, a.k.a. Barcelona

msparkes — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 04:01:06 EDT

AMD is finally launching its Barcelona quad-core server chip today, although it's officially being called the Quad-Core Opteron. Intel may have been beating AMD to higher clock speeds recently, but the Barcelona offers some performance and power-saving advantages that should level the playing field again.

Saving power is becoming increasingly important in server rooms now, both because of the high cost of electricity and from pressure to become greener. AMD has developed a system, called CoolCore, where individual parts of the processor are turned off when they're not needed.

There will be nine chip options, all manufactured with 65nm technology, and all with 512KB of level two cache per core and 2MB shared. The top of the range 2GHz 8350 is expected to be priced at $1,019 for quantities over 1,000, with options all the way down to $209. There are expected to be more than 50 products launched this week using the chips, from Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell. [AMD]

Fastest AMD Opteron vs. Intel Core 2 Extreme: (Verdict: Close, But Too Close)

Charlie White — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 14:43:20 EDT

AMD Opteron 2220SE 2.8GHz processors make their debut on the just-released HP xw9400 Workstation today, and they were tested on content creation benchmarks against the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor. The result? Even with two of the latest Opterons chugging away, the xw9400 barely beat the 2.93 single-processor Core 2 Extreme Precision Workstation 390 from Dell, and was even soundly beaten on some of the tests.

We're talking high-priced workstations here, where this HP xw9400 costs a cool $5999, certainly the territory of well-heeled movie producers and architectural engineers. But when we saw this pricey workstation having trouble beating that $3893 Dell Precision 390 with a single chip inside, we're starting to think AMD has a way to go before it can catch up to Intel's Core 2 architecture. Now we want to see what happens when you put this fastest Opteron against Core 2-packing Intel Xeons. – Charlie White

AMD Opteron vs. Intel Core 2 Extreme [Digital Video Editing]

AMD Releases Socket F Processors, Challenges Intel Xeon

Charlie White — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:30:41 EDT

AMD is releasing 23 new dual core processors today, including its answer to Intel's Xeon "Woodcrest" processors, the "Socket F" Opteron CPU. AMD says that processor, the 2.8GHz 8220SE, can beat the fastest Intel Xeons by 11%. AMD goes on to say the 8220SE chip is 47% faster than Intel's Xeon 7041 in a four-processor configuration, while using 27% less power.

AMD also revealed that it will be shipping a quad-core processor in the next ten to twelve months, and the processors are said to consume the same amount of power as current AMD dual-core processors. Meanwhile, today's fastest processor from AMD, that Xeon-beating 8220SE, is priced at $2649. – Charlie White

AMD intros new Opterons and promises 68W quad-core CPUs [TG Daily]

Cray to Create PetaFlop Computer with 24,000 Opterons

Charlie White — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:34:47 EST

Cray, that maker of supercomputers from days of yore, has decided to jump into the biggest ~~superschlong~~ computer contest, creating a machine it has given the prosaic name of "Baker." The company expects it to be the first computer to break the petaflop barrier. That is, unless IBM beats Cray to the punch with its newest honking monster, Blue Gene.

Baker will be up to the challenge, with 24,000 quad-core 2.6GHz AMD Opteron processors. It'll be no slouch with memory, either, where its makers are considering using between 187TB or 400TB of RAM, and have settled for just 11 petabytes of disk space. All this hardware squeezes into a mere 187 cabinets. But can it play Doom?

24,000 quad core Opteron system slated [The Inquirer]

Alienwares Other-Worldly Workstations

Charlie White — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 06:55:04 EST

Alienware keeps on cranking out the workstations, with these two new models aimed at creative professionals, hard-core power users and film editors. The 7500i packs a single Intel dual core Pentium inside, while the MJ-12 7500a features dual-core Opteron processors. The real fun starts when you take a look at the new motherboard this thing is using. The NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 MCP features two full-bandwidth 16-lane PCI Express slots, which amounts to a veritable superhighway for a torrent of data. That motherboard also lets you plug in two graphics cards in an SLI configuration for the ultimate graphics blast, a highly sought-after capability for gamers and high-end graphics users. Keeping up with that speed are RAID-0 drives offered in configurations up to 2 TB. Keeping things quiet is Alienware's acoustic dampening option, which we've tested here and it actually works, and hardcore overclockers will like the optional liquid cooling. Rounding out the package is a workstation-class Quadro FX graphics card and more RAM than you can shake a stick at. For all that power, pricing is relatively low but could get high in a hurry as you add options, starting at $1599 for the AMD Opteron-based MJ-12 7500a, and $1789 for the Intel-based MJ-12 7500i.

MJ-12 7500i Details
MJ-12 7500a Details [Alienware]