Intel is busy prepping its next-generation Woodcrest server and workstation processors, while AMD continues to sails ahead with a final performance upgrade for its single-core Opteron CPU.

AMD claims that the new chips will provide a ‘performance boost’ and remain in the 95-Watt power envelope of other single- and dual-core Opteron processors.

AMD’s new 256 and 856 Opteron processors improve the clock speed from a previous maximum of 2.8GHz in x54 models to 3.0GHz. The company says the 2-way and 8-way CPUs are now shipping, while the 156 model, which will be targeting 1-way systems will become available by the end of the month.

The company said that the new x56 versions offer incremental performance for single-threaded applications, but has yet to provide further information on the specific performance benefit over the 254 and 854 models. As it was the case with previous Opteron launches, the new chips carry a hefty premium over other Opterons.

The 256 and 856 are priced at $851 (£484) and $1514 (£862), respectively, while the 254 and 854 are listed for $690 9 (£393) and $1165 (£663), respectively.

Hewlett-Packard and Sun are among the manufacturers to offer x56-based Opteron systems. Especially, Sun, which is increasingly warming up to AMD and gets more and more aggressive in the x86 market, has been announcing new servers and workstations already.

The latest addition to the Sun Netra server family, designed to the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) industry specifications for next-generation communication infrastructure, will be available in configurations featuring either a single- or Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor, with industry-leading x86 performance-per-watt for servers.

Sun’s Netra line is designed to deliver telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEMs) and Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) the highly reliable, high-performance, feature-rich blade platform they have demanded.

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BIOS, Apr 12, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Processor