Advanced Micro Devices on Monday introduced its new generation Opteron processors for private and public cloud deployments, big data systems and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters. The new chips use brand-new Piledriver cores and provide new level of performance for AMD-based servers.

The new AMD Opteron 6300-series processors code-named Abu Dhabi are compatible with AMD’s existing socket HyperTransport 3.0 G34 server infrastructure with up to four DDR3 memory channels. The new chips feature 4, 8, 12 or 16 x86 cores, up to 16MB L2 cache (1MB L2 per core) as well as 16MB of L3 cache. The new products have base frequency between 1.80GHz and 3.50GHz and can also overclock themselves within thermal design power limit to up to 3.80GHz thanks to Turbo Core technology.

Based on measures by AMD,  the Opteron 6300-series processors offer industry-leading performance in SPECjbb2005, a server benchmark used to evaluate Java performance, with up to 24% higher performance versus the prior generation AMD Opteron 6200 Series processors. Java is a critical element of the software ecosystem for next-generation data centers. AMD claims that performance per watt of the new chips is up to 40% higher than the prior generation solutions, which means businesses running robust large-scale software systems will be able to enjoy high performance as well as low TCO.

AMD continues to drive HPC performance with the AMD Opteron 6300 series processors by leveraging optimizations in compilers and libraries, and combining it with the next-generation Piledriver core architecture. AMD has delivered impressive results in key HPC applications such as the molecular dynamics workloads LAMMPs and NAMD.

“Across global IT organizations, cost-effective, scalable performance is a core requirement to support cloud computing, server consolidation and highly-threaded workloads common in HPC, big data and other areas. The key to a winning solution for customers is working with OEMs and other solution providers to minimize TCO with a combination of cost effectiveness and superior performance per watt. AMD Opteron 6300-series processors are uniquely positioned to be the difference-maker customers are seeking,” said Suresh Gopalakrishnan, general manager of server business unit at AMD.

Servers from Dell and HP based on the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors are expected to be available before the end of the year. Systems and platforms are available today from Cray, SGI, and Supermicro as well as Amax, Appro, Asustek Computer, ClusterVision, Colfax International, Megaware Computer, Microway, Penguin Computing, Silicon Mechanics and ZT Systems. AMD’s own “Roadrunner” platform, developed for the Open Compute Project, will be available in the first quarter of 2013. Moreover, AMD has already seen early traction with the AMD Opteron 6300-series processor leveraged in a supercomputing deployment at Indiana University.

AMD will be formally launching its Piledriver-based AMD Opteron™ 4300 and 3300 Series processors (code-named “Seoul” and “Delhi”) in December.

Tags: AMD, Opteron, Abu Dhabi, Piledriver