AMD's vendors attending Computex Taipei are unveiling their server platforms demonstrating the first native x86 quad-core solution, Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, codenamed Barcelona.

The quad-core server processor has been eagerly anticipated by AMD fans as the company tries to fight back against Intel's quad-core server processors.

AMD claims that the Barcelona processors will deliver up to 50 to 80 percent performance and performance-per-watt improvements on a broad range of server applications over similar current generation AMD Opteron processors.

In addition, the new processors are drop-in compatible (following a BIOS upgrade) with all existing AMD Opteron processor-based systems using low-power DDR2 memory.

Platforms displayed from Supermicro and Uniwide, participants in the AMD Validated Server program, are designed to take advantage of a new feature in Barcelona processors called Dual Dynamic Power Management, which delivers power independently to the CPU and to the memory controller to enable greater performance and better power management.