AMD servers use less power than Intel servers, a report from US computer testing firm Neal Nelson & Associates has revealed.
The independent firm tested an AMD and Intel-based server using its new Server Power Efficiency test. This subjects a server to increasing user load conditions and reports the power consumed at each load level.
In tests, the 3GHz AMD Opteron server used between 7.3 to 15.2 per cent less power at five different user load levels and 44.1 per cent less power while the systems were idle. The Intel server was running on a 3GHz Xeon (Woodcrest) processor.
Neal Nelson, president of the testing group, said: “AMD must have put a lot of energy into optimising the power usage for its products and it appears that AMD’s customers will now realise significant energy savings.”
The new test is a client server benchmark where web transactions are processed against a server configured with Suse Linux Enterprise Server from Novell, the Apache2 web server software and the MySQL relational database.
Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Linux and Open Platform Solutions at Novell, told CRN: “A standard power-efficiency test based on open-source software such as Linux, Apache2 and MySQL is a significant addition to the industry’s toolset for improving the power efficiency of servers”.
However, the news will come as small consolation to the ailing chip maker, which posted a $600m loss for its second quarter, marking it the third quarter in a row of negative earnings.
Robert Rivet, AMD’s chief financial officer, said: “While we made solid progress in the second quarter, we must improve our financial results.
“We achieved a 12 per cent sequential revenue increase, improved the gross m argin and won back microprocessor unit and revenue market share. Strong distribution channel demand, initial sales to Toshiba, and a broader adoption of AMD platforms led to a 38 per cent sequential increase in shipments.”
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