Advanced Micro Devices this week introduced its new AMD Opteron 4100-series microprocessors that target cloud and hyperscale data centers. The new chips come at very low cost and are supported by AMD’s new cost-efficient server platform code-named San Marino and low-power platform called Adelaide. AMD claims that select new central processing units (CPUs) offer the lowest “per-core” power consumption in the server industry.

“Until now, customers wanting to build a dense and power-efficient cloud or hyperscale data center had to shoehorn expensive, higher-end solutions into their computing environment, or they had to choose low-power client-based designs that may not have offered the right level of performance and server functionality. With the AMD Opteron 4000-series platform, these customers now have a server platform that is extremely power- and cost-efficient, allows a high degree of customization,” said Patrick Patla, corporate vice president and general manager of server and embedded division at AMD.

AMD’s quad-core six-core Opteron 4100-series microprocessors feature 2MB/3MB of level-two cache (512KB per core), 6MB of level-three cache, two HyperTransport 2.0 links and dual-channel DDR3 memory controller that supports up to PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333MHz) memory in addition to low-voltage DDR3 and quad-rank DIMMs. The chips are designed with C32 socket (LGA 1207) and sport C1E, Cool Speed, Precision Thermal Monitor, Remote Power Management Interface, DDPM, AMD CoolCore, Enhanced AMD PowerNow! Technology, AMD Wide Floating Point Accelerator, AMD Memory Optimizer Technology, AMD Balanced Smart Cache, AMD-Vc, EVP, OPMA and other technologies.

The new Opteron 4100-series chips are available in 32W, 50W and 75W average CPU power (ACP) envelopes, which translate into 35W, 65W and 95W thermal design power (TDP) envelopes. AMD is especially proud of its six-core Opteron 4162 EE and 4164 EE processors with 35W TDPs, which have the lowest known power per core of any server microprocessor, at 5.83W.

According to AMD, based on its checks with builders of cloud or hyperscale datacenters, for their applications power efficiency, density and cost are more important than raw performance, per core scalability or memory scalability, qualities important for traditional servers.

AMD claims that server platforms with reduced power consumption allow installation of increased amount of machines into power budgets that previously could support half the amount of servers. For example, two years ago 5.5KVA power budget could support 19 servers based on AMD Opteron 2300 “Barcelona” chips with 152 cores in total, whereas now 5.5KVA power budget can support 42 servers based on AMD Opteron 4100-series with 504 cores in total.

With the release of the AMD Opteron 4100-series microprocessors, AMD reconsiders pricing of server CPUs for the second time of the year. The starting price for the quad-core chips that can work in 2-way servers is now just $99, whereas the least expensive server processor with six cores costs $174. The top-of-the-range 4164 EE processor will still cost $698. The whole lineup of AMD Opteron 4100-series looks as follows:

• AMD Opteron 4122 – 2.20GHz, 4 cores, ACP 75W – $99
• AMD Opteron 4130 – 2.60GHz, 4 cores, ACP 75W – $125
• AMD Opteron 4162 EE – 1.70GHz, 6 cores, ACP 32W – $316
• AMD Opteron 4164 EE – 1.80GHz, 6 cores, ACP 32W – $698
• AMD Opteron 4170 HE – 2.10GHz, 6 cores, ACP 50W – $174
• AMD Opteron 4174 HE – 2.30GHz, 6 cores, ACP 50W – $255
• AMD Opteron 4176 HE – 2.40GHz, 6 cores, ACP 50W – $377
• AMD Opteron 4180 – 2.60GHz, 6 cores, ACP 75W – $188
• AMD Opteron 4184 – 2.80GHz, 6 cores, ACP 75W – $316

Systems from Acer Group, Dell, HP, SGI, Supermicro, ZT Systems, and numerous other channel partners are expected beginning this week and in the coming months.

Tags: AMD, Opteron, Lisbon, 45nm, San Marino, Adelaide