Opteron option expands
AMD expands server offerings with 852 and 252 chips
AMD has expanded its server offerings to include the Opteron 852 and 252 chips for systems using one to eight processors.
The company also announced its OEM and system builder partners will be able to take advantage of the next generation of its HyperTransport I/O technology, which has been ramped up to 1GHz.
The AMD-8132 HyperTransport PCI-X 2.0 tunnel, scheduled to ship for servers and workstations this month, supports PCI Express 2.0 connectivity for Opteron processors.
"These models of the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture bring the newest level of performance to our customers.
"The platforms our partners launched today feature the world's highest-performing 4P and 2P processors for 32- and 64bit computing," claimed Marty Seyer, general manager of AMD's microprocessor business unit.
Alongside the 1GHz HyperTransport, the new chips support SSE3 software instructions. The Opteron chips will soon come with AMD PowerNow! technology with Optimised Power Management.
Seyer added: "This technology helps to minimise overall power consumption for enterprise IT and workstation customers by decreasing strain on data centre cooling and ventilation systems."
Hewlett-Packard (HP), Sun and IBM have been quick to announce systems based on the new processors.
"HP is responding to customer demand for new levels of performance and price-performance by expanding our ProLiant and Workstation portfolios," said Paul Miller, vice-president of marketing for Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem at HP.
"With AMD's delivery of the powerful Opteron model 252 and 852, we're announcing high-performance, dense and power-efficient ProLiant blade servers."
Leo Suarez, vice-president of the eServer division at IBM's systems and technology group, claimed: "IBM was the first major vendor to offer AMD Opteron processor-based servers.
"The high-performance A-Pro IntelliStation and the IBM e326, which has been designed to support the AMD dual-core specification, continue to deliver the performance and flexibility that our customers demand."
The Opteron 852 and 252 cost $1,514 and $851 respectively, in 1,000-unit quantities.