AMD launches 16-core Opteron 6200 server processors

AMD has announced the availability of its first sixteen-core server chips, the new Opteron 6200 (codenamed "Interlagos"), as well as a new six and eight-core parts launching under the Opteron 4200 series (codenamed "Valencia"). The company is promising up to 84% higher performance compared to their predecessors, up to 73% more memory bandwidth for virtual machines and energy efficiency improvements.

The Opteron 6200, based on AMD’s Bulldozer-architecture, will include ten different models clocked between 1.6GHz and 2.6GHz and priced between $523 and $1,019. Only five of them are packing the full sixteen cores, however, as the line up also include a couple of twelve-core chips, two eight-cores and a quad-core model that also drops AMD's Turbo Core frequency boosting feature. They all draw between 85 watts and 140 watts of power and are designed to fit into the same socket as the previous-generation Opteron 6100 models that reached up to 12 cores.

Meanwhile, the Opteron 4200 series comprises four eight-core models and four six-core models. The higher end Opteron 4284 boasts a 3.0GHz clock speed and 95W TDP, while the Opteron 4256 EE on the other side of the spectrum features a 1.6GHz frequency and 35W TDP. These will fit into the same C32 socket as their 4100 series siblings.

The launch comes as AMD tries to reverse its fortunes in the server market after losing ground to Intel over the past year. AMD's worldwide server market share was only 5.5% during the second quarter of this year, while Intel held a 94.5% share, according to IDC. With a new management in place, lead by CEO Rory Read, the company is looking to boost the high-margin commercial business and focus its efforts on low-power computing, emerging markets and the cloud.

AMD last week unveiled a program, dubbed Ready Solutions for servers, designed to offer a wide range of motherboards compatible with the Opteron 6200 chips to quicken adoption of the processors. High-end servers from Dell, HP and others are expected to start shipping soon. Among the notable customers of the new processor is Cray, which is going to upgrade the Jaguar supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory into Titan with the new 16-core chips.

AMD launches two more sub-$100 Radeons, 6670 and 6570

AMD has rounded out the lower end of its Radeon HD 6000 series today with the launch of two new sub-$100 cards: the Radeon HD 6670 and HD 6570. These two models complement the $55 Radeon HD 6450 that came out earlier this month, and like the rest of the 6000 series they support DirectX 11, UVD3 accelerated video decoding, stereoscopic 3D, and Eyefinity multi-display technology -- with the Radeon HD 6670 supporting up to four-display configurations.

Priced at $99 and $79 respectively, the Radeon HD 6670 and HD 6570 are positioned at very attractive price points, and are intended to succeed the current HD 5670 and HD 5570 graphics cards. The Turks GPU found in the Radeon HD 6670 is clocked at 800MHz while in the HD 6570 it will be running at a more modest 650MHz, with both offering 480 stream processing cores, 24 texture units, 8 ROPs, and a 128-bit memory bus.


In terms of performance both the Radeon HD 6670 and Radeon HD 6570 are up around 10-15% over the Radeon HD 5670 and Radeon HD 5570 they are replacing. They also offer better overall performance than the Nvidia GeForce GTS 240 / 440 they are going up against, but with stocks of previous-generation cards still plentiful and many manufacturers running promos, you'll be able to find much better performing cards for the same or even less money -- like the Radeon HD 5770 and GeForce GTS 450, which are both regularly on sale for under $100.

At least until their launch prices inevitably go down, the real value of these cards is found not in the performance but in their low-power requirements and ability to support multi-monitor configurations. The 6570 has a TDP of 44 watts and uses only 10 watts when idle, while the 6670's TDP is 66 watts and consumes 12 watts while idling. Both cards feature a low profile design and neither of them requires an external power source.