AMD starts producing quad-core Opteron processor
The way how Intel and AMD are working on their processors is sometimes similar to marching as they both regularly come up with a new idea or a solution that nihilities difference between them. Of course, the difference is sizable nevertheless. So far Intel owns the processing domain while AMD has pulled off in chip architecture design. And only just a short while ago, on the 13th of November 2008 AMD has planed a great switch in production models. For very long time, from the mid 2007 to be more concrete, AMD production facilities were all given to their chip for Barcelona quad-core processor, now there is a new one called Opteron or Shanghai in its code name.Thinking over a Barcelona substitute, AMD developers decided to make the server chip smaller and faster, so they have added a number upgrades to shared L3 cash and SRAM, and have turned from 65 nm size to 45 nm. Such changes have required architecture revision, but everything is well made. Everything is also made to be compatible with Barcelona up to a very last part of the chip. This is the policy of AMD to make life easier for server parks holders, who in turn vote with their wallets for AMD because Opteron is not the only one processor in AMD family that will let them improve BIOS without constant changing of the entire jack and slot packaging.Except for reconsidering the Barcelona's architecture, designers have also generously added a lot more memory to cash and SRAM. against the Barcelona's background, Opteron's L3 cash and SRAM are three times and twice respectively as big as the elder ones. Quad-core processors will now have 6 MB cash and 8 MB static random-access memory.To see what latest quad-core Opteron is capable of will not be very easy for some time because they have just started to appear on the factory. But luckily there is an interesting part of Opetron in work presentation. The video follows.
Waseem Khan
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