AMD Intros New Low-Power Six-Core Opteron EE Processors

Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices has announced today the expansion of its Opteron line of server and workstation processors with the introduction of the new six-core AMD Opteron EE chips, boasting a 40W ACP. According to the world's second largest vendor of computer processors, the new CPUs have been designed to deliver a 31 percent increase in performance-per-watt over standard quad-core AMD Opteron processors, consequently meeting the requirements of customers who demand performance in a more energy-efficient package.

“It’s important for our industry to look at how technology is being used and where customers have emerging needs,” said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server and Workstation Division. “The AMD Opteron EE processor enables OEMs to deliver energy-sipping servers that don’t compromise on power management, virtualization or performance features. It is specifically designed to help address the challenges that are generating a great deal of discussion these days - building and running very dense data centers for Web services, while doing more with less.”

The first new processor model to take advantage of the new energy-efficient architecture is the company's Opteron 2419 EE, which has been designed using a 45nm manufacturing technology and can work at a speed of 1.8GHz. The new CPU has been designed for Socket 1207-compatible platforms and boasts 6MB of L3 cache, while the price tag is expected to be set at US$989 (in 1000-unit tray quantities).

According to the chip maker, all of its low-power processors have been designed to integrate all of the features that are available for the company's standard CPUs, including the AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology and the AMD-P features for advanced virtualization and power savings capability. The new 40W ACP is expected to be part of systems selected by cloud and Web 2.0 customers who require low-power solutions.