AMD Launches Opteron 6200 and 4200 CPUs

Advanced Micro Devices completed its newest set of x86 processors for the enterprise market, the Opteron 4200 series (previously codenamed Valencia) and Opteron 6200 (formerly Interlagos).

The chips have between 4 cores and 16 cores and can each handle up to 12 DIMM memory slots (even ultra-low voltage 1.25V), which implies a maximum memory capacity, per CPU, or 384 GB.

Also, up to four x16 HyperTransport technology (HT3) links operate on each unit, with 6.4 GT/s per link.

Businesses and large enterprises will get to boost their performance by up to 84% in ideal cases.

Virtualization is also more scalable now, with bandwidth boosts of up to 84% and, thus, allowing a server to handle more workloads and host more machines.

Power efficiency is also among the assets of the Opterons, as promised, with power envelopes of as low as 4.37W per core.

Cloud computing is supposed to benefit a lot from the appearance of the new chips, since the halved power requirement isn't the only perk.

The 4200 and 6200 series also need two thirds less floor space and reduce platform price by just as much.

“Our industry is at a new juncture; virtualization has provided a new level of reliable consolidation and businesses are now looking to the cloud for even more agility and efficiency. We designed the new AMD Opteron processor for this precise moment,” said Paul Struhsaker, corporate vice president and general manager, Commercial Business, AMD.

“The wait for the most anticipated new product and architecture for servers is over. Leading OEMs are now offering cloud, enterprise and HPC customers a full suite of solutions based on the industry's most comprehensive server processor portfolio, the new AMD Opteron family of processors which deliver an inspired balance of performance, scalability and efficiency.”

The AM3+ 4-8-core “Zurich” is the first processor to ship, before the first half of 2012 and is based on the Bulldozer architecture. 2012 will have ARM launching some Opteron 3000 CPUs as well.