14 DAY TRIAL // Intel may be constantly hedging on whether or not it will make ARM-based processors, but Advanced Micro Devices is much more proactive on the matter, having finally released a chip based on it: Opteron A1100.
The ARM processor architecture has a serious advantage in terms of power efficiency over x86, and because of that, it has always been the preferred technology for small and mobile devices.
Especially since a low power consumption comes hand in hand with a low level of heat generation.
But servers are another area where energy efficiency is highly prized, and ARM wanted to use that to expend beyond the confines of the mobile market.
For a while, Calxeda seemed to be the harbinger of positive change, but the company went down under not long ago.
Now, though, ARM has a really strong proponent in Advanced Micro Devices, whose Opteron A1100 SoC (system-on-chip) has just surfaced.
The chip features either four or eight ARM Cortex A57 cores, which AMD designed itself. The cores each work at over 2 GHz and have 4 MB of L2 and 8 MB L3 cache memory to split between them.
64-bit instructions are supported. Before this, there were only 32-bit capable units, barring some exceptions, most coming from Calxeda.
Up to 128 GB of DDR3 RAM (random access memory) are supported by the newcomer, as well as eight SATA 6 Gbps connectors (full bandwidth for all of them).
In fact, according to the presentation slides from AnandTech, even DDR4 RAM is supported by the memory controller.
AMD will sell the 25W chip to server makers. The company is quite popular there already, and it can only make more money if it promotes these low-cost, high-volume CPUs well.
No chance for mobile AMD-made ARM chips yet, or desktop ones, but there's no telling what may come in the future. That said, the first Opteron A1100-powered servers should debut this year, probably before the first two quarters are over and done.
