We told you about two weeks ago that certain partners of AMD were going to start offering first Opteron-based servers for those, who are interested in evaluating the first x86-64 hardware. This week AMD announced that it is working with technology partner Newisys and contract manufacturer Sanmina-SCI to make available a maximum of 500 AMD Opteron processor-based servers to system builders and end customers for early testing and development of applications on AMD's x86-64 technology.

The systems, based on pre-production AMD Opteron processors and Newisys "Khepri" platforms, will be available in two configurations and will be available directly from Sanmina-SCI. The program will make available AMD Opteron processor-based servers suitable for high-end enterprise class systems and applications. Servers feature evaluation Newisys Khepri mainboards for 2P, 1U chassis.

The cost of Opteron-based systems varies and is quite high: from $8000 to more than $10000. What is more important, AMD and its partners were going to provide "limited warranty" for these computers. Since the parts are for evaluation purposes and developers, AMD does not want any companyny to use these servers for commercial purposes at this point, what can be understood pretty easily.

Those who are interested in getting one of these shiny AMD x86-64 systems should visit this page at Newisys’ web-site.