Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2002/12/10/amd_takes_on_xeon_space/

AMD takes on Xeon space with Athlon 2400+MP

Low-end multiprocessor

By Drew Cullen

Posted in Channel, 10th December 2002 12:10 GMT

AMD today intro'd its fastest multiprocessor to date, the AMD Athlon MP 2400+. And it's a real live launch - 47 system builders worldwide are expected to show immediate availability for product incorporating the chip. In 1,000 unit quantities, it costs $228.

The Athlon MP 2400+ CPU supports DDR memory and is rolling off the 0.13micron production line. The chip is pitched firmly in the low-end server space, a market segment worth approx. $10bn a year, and occupied mostly by Intel's Xeon range. AMD is also gunning for entry-level workstation sales, boasting of the MP 2400+ marvellous floating point performance and pointing to the inclusion of 3DNow! Professional, complete with 51 new instructions to improve graphics performance.

AMD has maximised bandwidth on the MP 2400+, and therefore increased data movement on the chips, chipset and memory subsystem, through something it calls Smart MP technology. This comprises two point-to-point 266MHz system buses with error correcting code support, capable of delivering up to 2.1GB per second per CPU bandwidth. SMP also features an optimised cache coherency protocol to manage data and memory traffic in a multiprocessing environment. ®