AMD Releases New 'Shanghai' Opteron Processors

By Steve Seguin
published

AMD has launched its new Shanghai quad-core Opteron processors today, promising substantial performance gains and reduced power consumption.

The new Opteron processors promise up to 35-percent more performance, with a decrease of up to 35-percent in power consumption at idle when compared to the the previous Opteron processors based on Barcelona. For some, the Barcelona platform was a bit disappointing as it generally paled in comparison to the similar offerings from Intel. With this new boost in speed and efficiency though, AMD hopes its new Opteron processors, based on Shanghai, can reclaim some of the former glory that it once had.

AMD had kick-started the launch by announcing immediate widespread availability of the the quad-core Opteron processors, with global OEMs expected to be offering enterprise and SMB customers a selection of more than 25 systems by the end of the year. Sun Microsystems, HP, Dell and IBM will be offering systems based on the new AMD Opteron processors, with shipping expected to begin as early as this month. According to John Fowler, an executive vice president at Sun Microsystems, “... with generation-to-generation platform continuity, customers can be confident the new systems will fit seamlessly into existing AMD Opteron deployments.“.

New quad-core Opteron processors with a 75-watt ACP will be available immediately, ranging in speeds from 2.3 to 2.7 GHz. The new processors feature a 6 MB L3 cache size, DDR2-800 memory support and AMD’s new Smart Fetch technology, which reduces power consumption by allowing cores to enter a “halt” state at idle times. The new processors fit into existing Socket 1207 architecture that will also be used in the upcoming Istanbul processors, which are the next generation of AMD Opteron processors. In Q1 2009, AMD is expected to release its quad-core Opteron HE (55-watt) and SE (105-watt) processors.

AMD also mentions it will be releasing new processors for the desktop PC market in Q1 2009; the platform is codenamed Dragon. This new platform is said to optimize performance by combining the performance of the new 45 nm AMD Phenom II X4 quad-core processors with the AMD 700 Series chipsets and ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics.

Steve Seguin
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tipoo
    read the anandtech review, AMD is quite competitive here.
    Reply
  • bydesign
    With Harpertown not i7 which will be released next week, they are still a generation behind.
    Reply
  • kschoche
    Agreed, read the Anandtech review!
    Its about time, AMD.
    Reply
  • godmode
    tipooread the anandtech review, AMD is quite competitive here.
    can you post a link? i can't find it
    Reply
  • 2.7ghz @ 75w is excellent, there's no reason to think that AMD won't kick out a 3+ GHz desktop part at an equal or lesser wattage than Core i7. I'm sure Core i7 will make up ground in the server arena, but not in the desktop arena. Core i7 was only truly impressive at video encoding and synthetic benchmarks, which should further discredit synthetic benchmarks. IMHO, unless you're part of the .0001% of people who build a PC just to encode video, Intel's best CPU is still the Q6600.
    Reply
  • macer1
    +1 Haggle so true about the q6600
    Reply
  • amdgamer666
    godmode said:
    can you post a link? i can't find it
    Are u freaking kidding me?!?! there's a large amd logo and in large print "amd opteron" right on their homepage!!! here's the link in case u really are that moronic/blind: http://it.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=3456
    I'm so glad to see that AMD is competive once again in the server arena, especially after the fiasco that was barcelona. I remain hopeful that the die shrink, larger cache, and new instructions can be enough to make AMD competetive in the desktop arena as well although it'll certainly be harder due to all-out performance and overclockability determining competetiveness rather than performance-per-watt
    Reply
  • Area51
    I thought the last set of testing that Tom's did on I7 showed improvements in every benchmark over AMD. What I care about is irregardless of how much improvements they have, are they better than Intel or not. Ultimately that is all that matters. As far as desktop's goes, I think Intel will completely dominate the High-end CPU's for a very long time. Lets see how AMD can compete at the low price CPU's.
    Reply
  • JonnyDough
    Area51...are they better than Intel or not. Ultimately that is all that matters..
    Your comment shows you have a very limited understanding of processors. Not all processors excel in the same way. "Better" is subjective, in that a Ferrari is not "better" than a Honda Accord because it costs eight times as much. Here, "better" is only relative to what applications you are running. So please do not sling words around when you fail to understand what it is you are talking about. Thank you, and have a nice day.
    Reply
  • neiroatopelcc
    Area51What I care about is irregardless of how much improvements they have, are they better than Intel or not.Thinking servers, yes they are. They develop less heat than intel, and they're cheaper to buy. Most servers at my company require memory a lot more than they do processing power, so their price and heat development are primary issues for us. More heat means more cooling to the server location as well, adding even more expense to faster chips.
    I imagine an esx server with two of the new opterons and 30-40gb memory would be able to effectively replace the two old opteron based esx's I have next door at the moment (270 model) and even add a significant headroom in performance if needed.
    Reply