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08-06-11, 10:08 AM
Advanced Micro Devices will release the first Opteron server processors to feature its new Bulldozer cores on Sept. 26, PCMag has learned. AMD's FX-series Bulldozer chips for high-end desktops are also set for release in either September or October, according to a report from DigiTimes.
AMD is eyeing the Sept. 26 release date for its new Opteron 4200 series, codenamed Valencia, and Opteron 6200 series, codenamed Interlagos, according to a source familiar with the company's product roadmap.
At AMD's analyst day last November, the company described its next-generation Bulldozer core as the biggest change (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372468,00.asp) in x86 servers in a decade. The new processor cores offer up to 50 percent more throughput as AMD's current 12-core Opterons while sitting in the same power envelope, according to AMD, while a redesigned memory controller serves up a 30 percent boost to memory performance and a flexible 256-bit floating point unit.
AMD's 32-nanometer Bulldozer two-core modules share some components across the two cores, namely fetch and decode units, L2 memory cache, and a floating point scheduler, but each core in a module has its own L1 cache and integer unit scheduler. Each core has just one thread but by sharing some resources with another core, those threads come less expensively than they would if each Bulldozer core was an entirely stand-alone unit.
That provides two "strong threads" per Bulldozer module, in AMD's telling. It's a different approach than rival Intel's current x86 core design for its Xeon chips, which features two threads per single core, or if you were to ask AMD, two "weak threads."
The Opteron 4200 series will feature processors with either six or eight Bulldozer cores—or going by the modular design of those chips, either three or four two-core modules. Interlagos, then, becomes the new powerhouse in AMD's server lineup. The upcoming Opteron 6200 series will have chips with 12 and 16 Bulldozer cores.
Valencia is the next stage in AMD's Opteron 4000 series aimed at single-socket and dual-socket, cost-optimized, energy efficient servers. It will be succeeded in 2012 by a CPU codenamed Sepang that has up to ten Bulldozer cores.
Interlagos continues the Opteron 6000 series which debuted with AMD's Magny-Cours chips in March 2010. Designed for enterprise-class two-socket and four-socket servers, the Opteron 6200 series CPUs will give way in 2012 to chips codenamed Terramar—some sporting a whopping 20 Bulldozer cores.
SOURCE (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390410,00.asp)
AMD is eyeing the Sept. 26 release date for its new Opteron 4200 series, codenamed Valencia, and Opteron 6200 series, codenamed Interlagos, according to a source familiar with the company's product roadmap.
At AMD's analyst day last November, the company described its next-generation Bulldozer core as the biggest change (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372468,00.asp) in x86 servers in a decade. The new processor cores offer up to 50 percent more throughput as AMD's current 12-core Opterons while sitting in the same power envelope, according to AMD, while a redesigned memory controller serves up a 30 percent boost to memory performance and a flexible 256-bit floating point unit.
AMD's 32-nanometer Bulldozer two-core modules share some components across the two cores, namely fetch and decode units, L2 memory cache, and a floating point scheduler, but each core in a module has its own L1 cache and integer unit scheduler. Each core has just one thread but by sharing some resources with another core, those threads come less expensively than they would if each Bulldozer core was an entirely stand-alone unit.
That provides two "strong threads" per Bulldozer module, in AMD's telling. It's a different approach than rival Intel's current x86 core design for its Xeon chips, which features two threads per single core, or if you were to ask AMD, two "weak threads."
The Opteron 4200 series will feature processors with either six or eight Bulldozer cores—or going by the modular design of those chips, either three or four two-core modules. Interlagos, then, becomes the new powerhouse in AMD's server lineup. The upcoming Opteron 6200 series will have chips with 12 and 16 Bulldozer cores.
Valencia is the next stage in AMD's Opteron 4000 series aimed at single-socket and dual-socket, cost-optimized, energy efficient servers. It will be succeeded in 2012 by a CPU codenamed Sepang that has up to ten Bulldozer cores.
Interlagos continues the Opteron 6000 series which debuted with AMD's Magny-Cours chips in March 2010. Designed for enterprise-class two-socket and four-socket servers, the Opteron 6200 series CPUs will give way in 2012 to chips codenamed Terramar—some sporting a whopping 20 Bulldozer cores.
SOURCE (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390410,00.asp)