There was a Barcelona processor for the server!

After months of delays, AMD processor maker officially released the Barcelona processor line for servers to find lost market share in Intel 's " rivalry ".

AMD brought Barcelona's "warrior" of the quad-core processor line code-named Quad-Core Opteron, which was released just days after Intel introduced the Xeon 7300 Quad Core. According to AMD, Barcelona was created based on development technology. Its own 4-core processor, which offers better processing power than Intel's processors but consumes less power. Moreover, there will be 9 versions of Quad-Core Opteron and all use 65nm manufacturing technology. These are also the first quad-core processors from AMD to use this technology.

AMD Quad-Core Opteron processor.

" On this occasion, we switched from 90nm to 65nm manufacturing technology to re-design microprocessors to improve their capabilities and performance ," said John Fruehe, global business development manager for AMD's server and workstation system said.

The Quad-Core Opteron will be the processor line designed for servers using 4 or more processors. "Big brother" 8350 at 2GHz costs $ 1019/1000 processors with 95w TDP, "brother" 8347 keeps speed 1.9GHz designed for multi-processor servers also has a TDP of 95w at a price of 786 USD.

The remaining "brothers" in the Quad-Core Opteron family specializing in multi-processor servers have a lower TDP of 8347HE and 8346HE. Both have a TDP of 68w, a speed of 1.9GHz and 1.8GHz at a price of 873 and 698 USD respectively.

Five versions of Quad-Core Opteron for servers using 1 to 2 processors in turn include: Quad-Core Opteron 2350 and 2347 operating at 2GHz and 1.9GHz, with the same TDP of 95watt, the price respectively 389 USD for 2350 and 316 USD for 2347. Three "youngest" are 2347HE (1.9GHz), 2346HE (1.8GHz) and 2344HE (1.7GHz) have lower TDP (68 watts). All 3 prices are 377, 255, and 209 USD respectively.

Cache model of AMD Quad-Core Opteron. Photo: TechARP

All Quad-Core Opteron processors have 512KB of Level 2 cache per core and 2MB of Level 3 cache shared by 4 cores. AMD said the new processors are faster than the previous Opteron processors, namely the 2GHz Quad-Core Opteron will operate 79% faster than the Dual-Core Opteron 3GHz.

In terms of structure, the Quad-Core Opteron has four processing cores on a silicon chip and equips a central memory controller with high-speed HyperTransport links. In contrast, Intel's quad-core processors have two dual-core silicon chips inside a multi-chip package and are not equipped with memory controllers. That is the advantage of the Quad-Core Opteron series because according to AMD, the memory controller will direct the processor to operate at different speeds in accordance with the power source. Minimize power consumption when it is not operating at full capacity.

Not knowing the results of the confrontation between the four "warriors" of AMD Quad-Core Opteron and Intel Quad-core Xeon 7300 but the hardware manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Sun Microsystems, and IBM have also quickly launched bringing the Quad-Core Opteron to the new server line in parallel with the Intel Xeon 7300. In addition, AMD also revealed plans for a 2.3GHz Quad-Core Opteron SE designed for high-end computers. launched in the fourth quarter of this year.

Thanh Truc