AMD launches 16-core server chips

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will officially launch its new generation of Opteron processors today, showing off the world’s first 16-core processor at an event in Munich.

Targeted at large enterprises and officially called the Opteron 6200-series (codenamed Interlagos), AMD has high hopes for the new processor as it battles chip giant Intel in the server processor marketplace.

Recent Q3 2011 data from market intelligence firm IDC on x86 server and workstation processor market trends give Intel a 95.1 per cent market share, with AMD’s share dropping below five per cent to 4.9 per cent.

There are 10 6200-series processor models with core counts of four, eight, 12 and 16. Core clock speeds will range from 1.6GHz for the 6262HE model to 3.3GHz for the 6204 model.

Opteron 6200 processors will be able to boost clock speeds across all cores by between 300-500MHz using AMD's Turbo Core technology, if there is room within the thermal design power (TDP) envelope.

The processors will also be able to raise clock speeds by up to 1GHz in certain circumstances. For example, when lightly threaded workloads move half the processors into C6 sleep mode, the other half can use Max Turbo Boost to increase clock speeds by up to 1GHz.

AMD is also officially launching Opteron 4200-series processors – codenamed Valencia. There will be four six-core models and four eight-core models.

AMD’s product marketing director, John Freuhe, said: “We’ve moved to a more modular architecture [called Bulldozer] with this processor release, which as well as letting us add additional processor cores more easily will also allow us to add other technologies into the processor in the future.”

Asked whether vendors would be launching systems using the chips today, Freuhe said: “These processors will fit into the same sockets that server vendors are already shipping. Processor samples have been shipping from GlobalFoundries’ Dresden plant since September, so expect server manufacturers to announce systems later today.”

AMD’s launch of Interlagos-based processors was expected to come after Intel’s competing Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon E5 processor launch, which was widely expected to take place at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco earlier this September.

However, Intel’s Xeon E5 server chips based on its Sandy Bridge 32nm processor architecture now won’t launch until 2012.