Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/24/amd_3ghz_price/
Battered AMD guns Opteron to 3.0GHz
Barcelona now with 10 per cent more 'wow'
Posted in Servers, 24th April 2007 07:46 GMT
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AMD threatened a coupled of weeks back to crank its dual-core Opteron up to 3GHz. This week, the company delivered on that threat.
AMD has officially released the Opteron Model 2222 and 8222 SE chips – the highest performing and most expensive versions of the Opteron server chip family. We say "officially" because AMD did brag about [1] the 3GHzness of the chips earlier this month and started handing partners product. Now, AMD has agreed to share pricing for the chips with a wider audience.
The Model 2222 SE chip, aimed at dual-socket systems, costs $873 in volume. That's a fair chunk of change more than the $698 2220 SE, which clocks in at 2.8GHz.
The 8222 SE chip, which fits in four-socket boxes, starts at – hold your breath - $2,149 in volume. The previous 8220 SE costs $1,514 in volume.
Along with releasing pricing for the new, speedy chips, AMD dished out a smidgen of news around its upcoming, four-core Barcelona chip. The nasty little chip should beat out Intel's Xeon processor by 50 per cent on floating point-heavy software, according to AMD. Previously, AMD has only been bold enough to claim a 40 per cent performance lead.
Barcelona has become more important than ever, following AMD's recent financial run. The company announced a $600m loss in its last quarter and saw processor sales drop by close to 40 per cent. ®