AMD Opteron Off to Slow Start?

TAIPEI -- Advanced Micro Devices will demonstrate a four-way server based on its 64-bit Opteron processor at the Computex 2002 exhibition here on June 3. However, there appears to be some question about the performance of the Opteron chips to be used in the demo, according to a draft media invitation that was inadvertently sent to IDG News Service by AMD's public relations company here.

"The demos we're currently showing are anything but high-performance. They're pretty low-performance right now, and we don't want to invite questions about just how fast they're running," read one unattributed comment contained in the draft invitation.

An AMD spokesperson in Hong Kong confirmed that the company does plan to demonstrate a four-way Opteron server at Computex, but denied that the Opteron chips it plans to use in the demo are low-performance processors. "This is wrong," says Carol Mui, a company spokesperson. "It's an eighth-generation processor. How can it be low performance'"

"We definitely will demonstrate a high-performance system," she says.

Specifics Scarce

AMD's Mui would not comment on specifications of the Opteron processors the company plans to use in the four-way server demo, including the chips' clock speed, saying the company would release more information the first day of the show.

Opteron is the brand name AMD gave to the server and workstation versions of its upcoming 64-bit processor line, formerly known by the code name Hammer.

The Opteron demonstration at Computex will be the first time AMD has publicly shown the chip running in a four-processor configuration. In April, it demonstrated a dual-Opteron server running a developmental 64-bit version of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. When Opteron ships next year, the chips will be available in systems with up to eight processors.

In addition to the four-way Opteron demo, AMD also plans to unveil a motherboard for the Opteron, Mui says.

Chip Sets Key

AMD has previously announced details of its AMD-8000 chip set for the Opteron, which includes three chips. The AMD-8111 HyperTransport I/O hub, which it designed to replace the Southbridge chip used in existing Athlon chip set configurations. The AMD-8131 HyperTransport PCI-X tunnel offers two PCI-X bus bridges. And the AMD-8151 HyperTransport AGP3.0 graphics tunnel which support AGP-8X graphics.

In addition to the AMD-8000, chip set vendors Acer Laboratories, Silicon Integrated Systems, Nvidia, and Via Technologies will likely produce chip sets for AMD's 64-bit processor family as well.