AMD today officially introduced the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor, the first native x86 quad-core microprocessor, designed for datacenters.

Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with AMD?s Direct Connect Architecture introduce innovations that go beyond four x86 processing cores on a single die of silicon: energy efficiency with a 50 percent increase in integer and floating-point performance, enhanced virtualization performance, and investment protection via a customer-centric approach enabling non-disruptive transitions from dual- to quad-core within the same power and thermal envelopes.

"Today marks one of the great milestones in microprocessor achievement as AMD again raises expectations for industry-standard computing," said Hector Ruiz, chairman and chief executive officer, AMD. "We?ve worked closely with our customers and partners to design a new generation of processing solutions embodied by today?s Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor ? a four-way winner in performance, energy efficiency, virtualization and investment protection. Early customer response has been extremely positive."

Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based systems from global OEM and system-builder partners begin shipping this month and are expected to increase in number through the remainder of the year. AMD Phenom processor solutions are expected to be available for the desktop market in December.

Systems based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are also being announced today by a host of other manufacturers, including Appro, Egenera, Gateway, Rackable Systems, Supermicro and Verari.

AMD introduces Average CPU Power (ACP)
AMD also today introduced the Average CPU Power (ACP) metric, which represents processor power usage, including cores, integrated memory controller, and HyperTransport technology links, while running a suite of typical and relevant commercially useful high utilization workloads to be more indicative of the power consumption that end-users can expect. ACP is a useful metric for data center operators when estimating power budgets to size their datacenters.

AMD is introducing Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors today at the 55- and 75-watt ACP.

Energy Efficiency
As datacenters in the U.S. face the potential of doubling their energy consumption by 20113, new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors support a variety of new power-saving technologies, including:

- AMD CoolCore Technology, for reducing energy consumption by turning off unused parts of the processor;
- Independent Dynamic Core Technology, an enhancement to AMD PowerNow! technology, allowing each core to vary its clock frequency depending on the specific performance requirement of the applications it is supporting; and
- Dual Dynamic Power Management (DDPM), which provides an independent power supply to the cores and to the memory controller, allowing the cores and memory controllers to operate on different voltages, determined by usage. DDPM is available in most Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based platforms being introduced today.

Virtualization Performance
Datacenters depend on virtualization software as an essential tool to consolidate server workloads, operate more securely, and enable disaster recovery. Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors with Direct Connect Architecture excel in virtualized environments because of the integrated memory controller for reduced memory latency, and Rapid Virtualization Indexing, a new AMD innovation in AMD Virtualization technology designed to reduce the overhead associated with software virtualization. Rapid Virtualization Indexing takes functionality that was previously performed in software and accelerates it by performing those functions within the CPU to help enable near-real time application performance.

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The x350 CPUs run at 2GHz, the x347 at 1.80GHz, x344 at 1.70GHz and the x346 at 1.90GHz. All chips have been manufactured using the 65nm process.