AMD adds to six-core Opteron line up

New HE processors promise even lower power consumption

AMD promised power savings of up to 18 per cent

Chip maker AMD has unveiled five additions to its six-core Opteron processor family, which promise to be even more power efficient.

The first three 55W ACP Opteron HE CPUs - the 2GHz 2423 HE, 2.1GHz 2425 HE and 2.1GHz 8425 HE - are aimed at cloud computing and web server environments.

AMD said that its Direct Connect architecture should lead to power savings of up to 18 per cent over the standard wattage version.

"Since our introduction of multi-core processors for the server market, it's been the AMD mission to help IT managers reduce datacentre energy costs without compromising performance," said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager of AMD's server business.

"These new lower power six-core AMD Opteron processors feature the highest performance-per-watt that we have brought to market, and help drive down power consumption while addressing the shifting cloud and web landscape of today's datacentre."

The remaining two Opteron SE processors - the 2.8GHz SE 8439 and 2.8GHz SE 2439 - are designed for high-performance and mission-critical workloads such as database and customer relationship management applications. Both are rated at 105W, nearly double their HE counterparts.

The HE processors are shipping from today for HP two-, four- and eight-processor ProLiant G6 systems, and will be available from other original equipment manufacturers, including IBM and Dell, over the course of this quarter.

AMD is promising even more power efficient processors later this year.