On Monday, AMD launched the six-core AMD Opteron HE and SE, providing additional energy efficiency for the Opteron server processor family.
The new HE chips deliver 18 percent better performance per watt than the standard-wattage version of Istanbul, the underlying processor architecture that forms the foundation for both of the new families of chips.
AMD said that the new 55-watt Opteron HE processors are currently shipping for two-way, four-way, and eight-way systems from HP's Proliant family, with additional systems from other OEMs slated for the third quarter of 2009. AMD did not disclose the clock speed of the chips, but said that the new six-core Opteron SE will run at 2.4-GHz for two-, four-, and eight-way systems.
The price of the two-way AMD Opteron 2423 HE will be $455, while the eight-way Opteron 8425 HE will be $1,514. The two-way, six-core AMD Opteron 2439 SE will be $1,019, while the eight-way, Opteron 8439 SE is priced at $2,649.
AMD has made it a point to meet or exceed its roadmap timetable with its most recent products; the launch of the new HE and SE chips comes just two weeks into the third quarter.
AMD said in June that it would launch the HE, SE, and EE versions during the third quarter, following the unveiling of the Istanbul architecture, the foundation for both chips, on June 1.
"Since our initial introduction of multi-core processors for the server market, it's been the AMD mission to help IT managers reduce datacenter energy costs without compromising performance," said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server Business, AMD, in a statement.
"These new lower power six-core AMD Opteron processors feature the highest performance-per-watt that we have brought to market, and help drive down power consumption while addressing the shifting cloud and Web landscape of today's datacenter," Patla added. "And with six cores of compute power and Direct Connect Architecture, these processors deliver no-compromise performance."