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HP lets loose $599 xw4550 Opteron-based workstation
It looks like those wanting to add a workstation to their computing arsenal now have a relatively inexpensive option to consider from HP, which has just rolled out some new additions to its xw4550 series that start at a mere $599. That'll get you a 2.0GHz AMD Opteron 1212 processor, along with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 290 graphics with 256 MB of RAM. If you've got a bit more cash to throw around, you can max that out to a 2.8GHz Opteron 1220, 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 570 graphics for $1,349, with a couple of options available in between, all of which come with Vista Business as standard with XP Professional pre-installed.[Via Electronista]
World's fastest: IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer breaks petaflop barrier using Cell and Opteron processors
When you're looking to set a record this is how you do it. Not only has IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer come on-line, it's now the world's fastest -- twice as fast as the old BluGene/L champ -- and churning through 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second. The $133 million supercomputer achieved the milestone with the help of 12,960 "improved" Cell processors (yes, like those powering your PS3) and a smaller number of AMD Opteron processors -- 116,640 processor cores in total. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon your perspective), Roadrunner is for military use only so you'll have to solve the traveling salesman problem on your own time. While not quite into Exaflop territory, we're definitely on the way.[Thanks, Chris S.]
AMD's new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket workstations and gaming gods
Okay gamers, power-modders, and IT dudes (and dudettes), pay attention: AMD has set sail to three new quad-core Opteron processors for one-socket servers and workstations. The new 1352, 1354, and 1356 clock in at 2.1GHz, 2.2GHz, and 2.3GHz, respectively, and meet the same socket and thermal requirements as previous AMD Opteron 1000 Series processors. They also utilize AMD's Enhanced PowerNow! tech and Rapid Virtualization Indexing. Pricing is currently set at $209, $255, and $377.
AMD announces 6- and 12-core Opterons
AMD may be busy sorting out issues with its quad-core Phenoms and hard at work on "completely different" chip architectures, but that isn't stopping the company from aggressively updating its roadmap, announcing today plans for 6- and 12-core server-grade Opterons. Both the new 6-core chip, codenamed Sao Paulo, and the 12-core unit, codenamed Magny-Cours, are based on a brand-new platform called "Maranello," and slotting in to replace the planned 8-core Barcelona chip, which appears to have been canceled. According to AMD, 12-core chips are easier to manufacture, so it's going to skip over 8-core chips and go straight to the good stuff. That must be news to Intel, which is planning on shipping 8-core Nehalem chips later this year, and will probably then hold the coveted "number-of-cores" crown until AMD releases the 12-core chips in 2010. There's no word on whether any of these chips can make these processor roadmaps comprehensible or even chronological, but we can dream, can't we?[Via TG Daily]
AMD's quad-core Opteron processor now available in select systems
Some seven months after AMD first tooted its horn about creating the "world's most advanced x86 CPU," the quad-core Opteron is finally shipping. Effective today, consumers eager to wrap their brains around all that purported power can find the chips residing in a variety of HP machines (read: servers) as well as in systems from other "distributors, system integrators and specialized OEMs." Unfortunately, little is said about the widespread availability of the CPU beyond that, but at least it's getting out the door in one way or another, right?[Via CNET]Read - Opteron heads to select partnersRead - Opteron now available in OEM platforms
AMD finally getting "B3" Opterons out the door
It hasn't exactly been the speediest of turnarounds but, according to Daily Tech, AMD is now finally getting its updated B3 stepping Opteron processors out into the hands of system integrators, making them the first K10-based Opteron processors to ship since the so-called TLB bug cropped up last December. What's more, while there's apparently only hard evidence of the Opterons (pictured at right), Daily Tech says that the B3 stepping Phenom processors are now shipping as well. Those will each obviously be heading to OEMs first, but vendors like Newegg will apparently be getting Opterons ranging from 1.8 GHz to 2.4 GHz starting in "early April," while both Phenom and Opteron lines are set to hit 2.6GHz sometime in the fall -- assuming there aren't any further unforeseen delays, that is.
AMD unveils "world's most advanced x86 CPU" -- the quad-core Opteron
We know you've probably grown numb to these "world's best" claims uttered by processor manufacturers, but shortly after introducing the Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition, AMD is now unveiling what it calls "the world's most advanced x86 CPU." The quad-core Opteron touts a slew of enhancements including a "50-percent increase in integer and floating-point performance" and a boost in "virtualization performance." Interestingly, AMD goes on to brag about the chip's power saving abilities, as it utilizes Dual Dynamic Power Management, CoolCore, and Independent Dynamic Core Technology in order to provide a more energy-efficient device. Systems relying on the newfangled CPU have reportedly begun shipping "from global OEM and system-builder partners," so newfound greatness should be just an order away.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
AMD readies quad-core Barcelona for August shipment
Those eager to lay down for the "industry's first" native x86 quad-core processor have but a few months left to wait, as AMD just announced that its quad-core Opteron's would begin shipping in August. Codenamed Barcelona, these CPUs will be launching in both "standard and low power versions," hit frequencies of up to 2GHz, and should provide performance increases of up to "70-percent" over existing Opterons in select applications. Additionally, those who can hold off a bit can look forward to even speedier chips in Q4 of this year, and an elusive "Special Edition" version should also be just around the bend. Per usual, no hints on what kind of premium you'll pay for this wee piece of silicon come August, but AMD did note that the processors wouldn't hit mainstream systems until September.
Alienware's MJ-12 8550 workstations sport up to eight cores
It's always a lucky day for the writer who gets to cover a new Alienware release, because you wouldn't be doing your readers justice without building your own fantasy rig on the retail site and seeing just how high you can jack the price up. So today is especially thrilling, because we got to throw together two $12,000+ workstations without breaking a sweat: the Intel Xeon-powered MJ-12 8550i and AMD Opteron-powered MJ-12 8550a. This being Alienware and all, you can load up either machine with two top of the line chips, creating either a 2.8GHz quad-core Opteron 2220 monster or an outlandish 1.86GHz octo-core Xeon 5320 beast. Add to that 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 graphics (or 2 FX 4500's in SLI on the 8550i), 16GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM, up to four HDD's (max storage: 3TB; max coolness: 600GB worth of 15,000 RPM drives), and two dual layer burners -- and well sir, you've got yourself quite a workhorse right there. Unfortunately for the average consumer whose games and apps aren't optimized for multi-core processors, these specs wouldn't really translate to blazing fast performance for day to day tasks -- plus both rigs only ship with XP, which might be a dealbreaker in and of itself. Since not everyone is gonna want to blow twelve grand on their email and web surfing box, (much) cheaper configurations are available, with both the "a" and the "i" starting at $2,550.
AMD shows off dual-R600 "teraflop-in-a-box" system
NVIDIA isn't the only one putting its massive amounts of GPU horsepower behind more mundane -- and potentially more lucrative -- tasks than pretty 3D gaming graphics. AMD just showcased its Accelerated Computing platform, which ties an AMD Opteron dual-core chip to a pair of AMD R600 Stream Processors for more than a teraflop of combined performance. AMD's not only proud of the basic muscle on display, but the achievements of its Accelerated Computing platform getting all that beef to work together. But really, all we want to know is if it can run Doom.[Via DailyTech]
AMD debuting power-efficient quad-core Barcelona feature
When you think quad-core CPU, current draw may not be the first concern that comes to your mind -- unless you administer a few dozen or hundred such boxes, in which case electricity, airflow, and air conditioning are no longer mere minor concerns. Thankfully for quad-core AMD hopefuls, their new Barcelona chip will feature an enhanced PowerNow setup that allows each of the chips four cores to operate at four varying clock speeds, independent of one another and depending on load. Despite adding another couple cores to the die, AMD claims this will help cut power by another 10 watts per chip (which definitely adds up in aggregate); we do sincerely hope they're right. We'll find out more when the Barcelona makes yet another splash, this time at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC).
AMD shows off Barcelona server chips, garners mixed reviews
With Intel giving its shareholders some awfully great news to savor over the holidays, AMD had to hit back with some news of its own, but you'll definitely get a different vibe from reading ExtremeTech's take on the firm's recently showcased Barcelona than from the horse's own mouth. While AMD parades its 65nm chip as "the world's first native quad-core x86 server processor," and boasts about its "significant advancements in performance per watt capabilities," we've reason to wonder if things aren't a bit sugarcoated. While the wafer was demonstrated as utilizing "all 16 cores" and being a seamless upgrade from "dual-core to quad-core", hard facts (read: the much anticipated benchmarks) were curiously absent. Aside from injecting onlookers with more of the same technical minutiae we've seen over the past few months, AMD didn't exactly flesh out a lot of new details to chew on, but ExtremeTech's reference system "was the loudest they'd ever had in their office," and sucked down nearly 600 watts of power with just two HDDs and a single graphics card. So while we're firmly withholding judgment until its officially released, we'd say AMD still has a bit of tweaking to do before the competition rolls in.UPDATE: Looks like we mistook the quad-core Opteron and the Quad FX (announced on the same day, nonetheless) chips as one in the same, when (thankfully) they're not, but those eying the recently-released FX-based desktops may want to think about how much noise they're willing to put up with before throwing down on a new machine.Read - AMD Press ReleaseRead - ExtremeTech's Hands-on Testing
AMD shows off their "Barcelona" quad-core chip designs
If you're not super excited by technical chip jargon like "advanced branch prediction" and "sideband stack optimizer," you might want to skip this one over, but for you chipheads out there, AMD has just unveiled the nitty gritty specs behind their forthcoming Barcelona quad-core processors. Built on a 65nm SOI process, the new chips will take the place of AMD's Opteron line, and will power workstations and servers sometime mid-2007 before the technology trickles down to consumer versions of the chips. AMD couldn't help but take a little pot-shot at Intel for their quad-core systems, which they claim are just two dual-core CPUs packed together, but we're pretty sure most consumers are going to be more concerned with performance, price and performance per watt than semantics. AMD hasn't provided any benchmarks yet, but we'll all be watching closely, since they're currently playing catchup to Intel on most of those fronts.[Via Slashdot]
IBM building world's fastest supercomputer using Opteron and Cell processors
One reason there's so much fuss (and delay) over the upcoming PlayStation 3 platform is the fact that it sports those new Cell processors jointly developed with Sony and Toshiba. Now those Cell procs are about to find themselves pumping away at the heart of a new $35 million supercomputer for Los Alamos National Laboratory. But this won't be just supercomputer mind you, IBM is hoping to reclaim the title of the world's fastest once completed in 2007. Dubbed Roadrunner, ACME IBM plans to jump from 280-teraflops to a full petaflop performance by combining AMD Opteron blade servers and Cell-based accelerator systems. A performance threshold achieved earlier this year by NEC's MDGrape-3, the supercomputer behind new pharmaceutical drugs and the curious taste and powerful punch of Mad Dog's 20/20 Red Grape Malt beverage. Mmm, grape.
AMD turns out slew of Opterons
To kick off LinuxWorld this week (and to take a shot off the bow of Intel's new flagship Core 2 Duo line), AMD's announcing a slew of new AM2 and Socket F dual-core business-oriented Opteron processors with archaic badge designations and some hot features, including visualization (dubbed AMD-V), DDR2 support (finally), and the like. Clocked at up to 2.8GHz, supposedly AMD's new Socket F products can beat out Woodcrest Xeons, not that that's any real surprise. No, the real buzz going on here is with AMD's forthcoming single-die quad-core processor (not to be confused with the 4x4), due later this year to do battle with Intel's similar quad-core dual-die processor. Click on for the model graph rundown, or hit TG Daily for some more detail on the launch.
Intel goes multi-core crazy for "Keifer" server line
We've been seeing the multi-core trend oncoming for a while now, but it seems Intel isn't just kidding around with the idea. The word on the street is that they have plans for a 32 core chip line named "Keifer" in the next few years to bust on those server tasks, which will no doubt be as boring and onerous as the processes of today. The good news is that while those chips will be fairly low on GHz -- about one third of the fastest Xeon CPU currently available -- but they'll manage 15x the performance with all those cores working in parallel, running a total of 128 threads. Based on a 32nm process, each Keifer should have eight processing nodes holding four cores, with a total of 24MB of cache between them. It appears Intel is most worried about keeping up with the multi-core efforts of Sun's Ultra Sparc chips, with little fear for AMD's Opteron roadmap, but with these Keifer chips being due around 2010, we're wondering how long it'll take for all this crazy multi-core action to trickle down into laptop chips for 32x (or 15x, as it were) the portable fun. The biggest hurdle of all, however, could be a consumer Microsoft OS that can fully help software take advantage of multiple cores, a task which Vista isn't quite up to.
Dell-AMD partnership is supposedly official
Ever since Dell began relaxing its anti-AMD policy by incorporating Opteron processors in its server line and selling Athlon chips through its online store -- not to mention that little Alienware purchase -- there have been rumors that consumer desktops and laptops would also be outfitted with non-Intel CPUs for the first time, and now The Inquirer is reporting that a final agreement has been reached that will bring these very products to life. At a meeting which apparently took place at Michael Dell's Texas residence, the two camps reportedly concluded their courtship and began planning a series of AMD-powered machines --to be advertised as "Windows Vista Premium Ready" -- that will be available in time for the Back-to-School sales events. nVidia is said to be the manufacturer of choice for the upcoming Athlon boxes, while ATI will continue supplying graphics solutions for Intel-powered configurations and some AMD notebooks. One theory behind the deal says that even though Intel is in the midst of introducing a new architecture, most of the first-run Merom (mobile Core 2 Duo) chips have already been committed to Apple and Lenovo, so Dell needed a way to ensure that consumers wouldn't be kept waiting endlessly for back-ordered products. We're not sure about any of that, but we do know that we like having as many choices as possible when it comes to PCs, so we're sure hoping that The Inq's source is on the money here.
Dell goes AMD -- in servers at least
It's been a long time coming, but Dell finally managed to cram an AMD chip into a system of theirs, ending years of Intel monogamy (other than their recently acquired Alienware lines). They're starting off slow, with a just a few Opteron Dual-Core processors in high end servers, but it could be a sign of things to come. Dell CEO Kevin Rollins sure played things down, mentioning "it's a fairly small category in terms of units," and that "we will still be launching this year a broad line of Intel products." But with recent AMD successes, especially in the desktop market, it's been long rumored that Dell is going to give up their AMD boycott. We'll keep our eyes peeled.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]