AMD claims widespread support for dual cores

CHIP FIRM AMD said that it has broad software vendor support for the dual core processors it is preparing for release.

In a statement today, AMD said that Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Sun Solaris 10 will all support its dual core AMD64 CPUs when they are released.

Red Hat Linux 4 Update one will come in spring this year, while all of the other OSes are already available, AMD said. Windows XP 64 isn't yet available though. We expect that in April although AMD made no mention of the OS in its statement.

AMD said some of these operating systems will include optimisations that will make applications perform better.

All of the OSes will also be licensed by the processor and not by the core, said AMD. It is encouraging applications vendors to take the same approach.

It said it will release dual core client processors in the second half of this year, while dual core Opterons are on target for release in the middle of this year. µ