AMD confirmed today that Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, code-named "Barcelona," are planned for shipment in both standard and low power versions at launch later this summer.

This would be the first time AMD has made both standard and low power parts immediately available as part of a new processor launch.

Additionally, AMD today updated its projected timing on "Barcelona" availability and provided additional product details. AMD expects that the processors will begin shipping for revenue in August 2007, with systems from AMD platform partners beginning to ship in September 2007.

Barcelona is the world?s first x86 CPU to integrate four processing cores on a single die of silicon. Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors can deliver significant performance and performance-per-watt enhancements over existing processor architectures, according to AMD. In addition, they are are designed to be backwards compatible with existing AMD Opteron platforms.

With planned availability at launch in a range of frequencies up to 2.0 Ghz, AMD expects its native quad-core processors to scale to higher frequencies in Q407 in both standard and SE (Special Edition) versions. AMD's rival Intel has promised to deliver its 3.0GHz Intel Xeon quad-cores chips later this year.

However, AMD seems to focus on the thermal characteristics of the new processors. The company says that the Barcelona chips are designed to operate within the same thermal envelopes as current generation AMD Opteron processors. AMD estimates that the new processors can provide a performance increase up to 70 percent on certain database applications and up to 40 percent on certain floating point applications, with subsequent higher frequency processors expected to significantly add to this performance advantage.

"More than ever before, customers are expecting energy-efficiency and performance-per-watt leadership as much as absolute performance. With this new reality of computing, greater performance at the expense of greater power consumption is no longer an option," said Randy Allen, corporate vice president, Server and Workstation Division at AMD. "AMD has prioritized production of our low power and standard power products because our customers and ecosystem demand it, and we firmly believe that the introduction of our native Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor will deliver on the promise of the highest levels of performance-per-watt the industry has ever seen."