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In another sign that the future of powerful processors lies in multicore designs instead of dense monolithic chips, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) released the last scheduled upgrade to its family of single-core Opteron processors.

Opteron models 256 and 856 are available immediately, and model 156 is due on the market within 30 days, the company said this week.

Computer vendors IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems immediately announced they would add the new chips to their workstation and server lines.

Vendors like the new design because it boosts chip performance from 2.8 GHz to 3 GHz while holding the power budget at 95 watts. That lets computer makers deliver faster workstations without adding fans to handle extra heat.

Which Users Will Benefit?

Users of single-threaded software applications will be the most eager to use these new chips, said Graham Lovell, senior director of x64 servers at Sun, of Santa Clara, California. They get the most value out of their software by running it at the highest possible clock speed, and today that is found in single-core chips.

By comparison, other customers use multithreaded applications. That software--such as electronic design automation (EDA) applications--can be very expensive, so customers like to use multicore processors to get the most value from their investment, Lovell said.

Sun will use AMD's new Model 156 processor in the entry-level Sun Fire X2100 server, designed for scale-out environments like number crunching with grid servers and priced at $2144. They will use the Model 256 processor in two-CPU systems, such as the X4100, priced at $6995, and X4200. And Sun will use the new Model 856 processor in four-way servers, like the V40z, which costs $24,545.

The demise of single-core Opteron processing is significant because AMD, of Sunnyvale, California, credits this processor with growing the company's share of the x86 server market from 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004 to 12.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005.

AMD will seek future growth in its multicore designs like the dual-core Opteron models 185, 285, and 885. Launched in March, these chips are targeted for similar market segments, with the Model 185 meant for smaller servers and workstations, the Model 285 for high-performance workstations and the Model 885 for enterprise-class servers.