It was unveiled quite some time ago that the first final x86-64 processors from AMD will appear only by the end of the first quarter or even later. Nevertheless, even now a company called Polywell Computers offers to pre-order AMD Opteron-based servers, as was reported by The Inquirer earlier this week. On this page of their web-site, Polywell “American Made” Computers offered PolyRaxx 1U2C servers with a couple of AMD Opteron processors inside. The actual page has been removed already.

Technical Specifications of PolyRaxx 1U2C are pretty obvious, as AMD’s initial server platforms’ design was unveiled long ago. The Polywell’s system is based on AMD 8000 chipset with AMD-8111 I/O Controller and AMD-8131 PCI-X Bus Tunnel. The mainboard supports two Socket940 processors, up to 16GB of memory (PC2700 Registered DIMMs are required), 3 PCI-X slots (2x133/64-bit slots and 1x66/64-bit slot). The board is equipped with Ultra320 SCSI controller with HotSwap support for two HDDs. The actual system is supplied with 1GB of memory, 36GB HDD and embedded SVGA graphics.

It seems that PolyRaxx 1U2C is one of the first servers to be based on the famous Khepri design by Newisys and, according to the source, there is a special service processor for remote administration and maintenance installed on the board and a special small LCD-display is on the front side of 1U case. The system is equipped with power supply unit that provides 465W of power.

According to unofficial information, not only Polywell, but a number of other vendors will start to supply AMD Opteron-based servers starting from early February. The cost of Opteron-based systems will vary, but will be quite high: from $8000 to more than $10000. What is more important, AMD and its partners will provide “limited warranty” for these computers. Although there will be just 500 of them in February, it is very strange that server systems can have “limited warranty”. Some unofficial sources indicate that these computers are for evaluation purposes and developers what seems to be truth, as there are no serious guys to start using servers with “limited warranties” for commercial purposes. On the other hand, AMD says that the actual systems will be faster, hence, we should not take the performance of these machines seriously. There are rumours that the first batch of AMD Opteron processors will be clocked at 1.40GHz.

Sources also indicate that these 500 machines are a part of AMD’s x86-64 marketing campaign.