AMD launches 40W Istanbul chip
AMD LAUNCHED the low-power version of its Istanbul 6-core processor today, dubbed the 2419 EE.
The low-power 6-core Opteron processor is targeted at cloud computing and dense server farms, according to AMD.
It puts out just 40W ACP (60W TDP)* compared to the 2.0GHz 2423 HE and 2.1GHz 2425 HE at 55W, the 2.2GHz 2427, 2.4GHz 2431, and 2.6GHz 2435 at 75W, or the 2.8GHz 2439 SE at 105W.
In order to keep this latest chip tame and cloud-friendly AMD has lowered the clock speed of the 2419 EE to 1.8GHz, undervolted it to just 1.125V and downgraded the integrated memory controller (IMC).
The Istanbul 2319 EE processor costs a relative pittance at just $989 each in trays of 1,000 and should face Intel's Gainestown-based Xeons.
What Chimpzilla is doing here is getting creative with Istanbul's clock speeds and power consumption. As GlobalFoundries' 45nm SOI expertise goes up, AMD breaks in new variants based on the original Istanbul architecture. It's putting out low power server and desktop parts, not die shrinks, instead of any new, faster products, while still working on its follow-up marchitecture.
You can look at this like Intel's 'tick-tock' process with an extra 'tick' added. Previously, chipmakers focused on shrinking and breaking in new architectures. Today's greener spin on power consumption allows chip companies to market the low-power variants almost as well as die shrinks or new architectures. They are, after all, a development on manufacturing processes, are they not?
What might seem a bit odd, though, is that we're just a few months away from seeing the Magny-Cours 12-core which, according to AMD, should bear the same ACP rating as the 75W Istanbuls, only with twice the number of cores per chip and a predictable roll-back on the clock rates.
Perhaps AMD should have waited until after its 40W Opteron 6-core announcement before charging in with Magny-Cours details. Marketing can be a tricky thing. µ
*Anandtech had run a few independent numbers on the non-low power versions of Istanbul and made the case for Istanbul's performance-per-watt earlier. We guess this will be even more so if you factor in this new lower power part. You can check out Anand's pursuit of happiness-per-watt.
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Intel should release a 1ghz single core version of the quad core and call it the PIII.
@dave: you forgot to mention the additional 120MByte of L1,2,3 *and* 4 cache to make up for the lack of logic.
Latency is soooo overrated.
You can make the power #'s seem low when you do the whole ACP and rely on some idle time in the average. While ACP is a nice idea... this is a 65Watt TDP chip. When you consider the relationship between clockspeed and power consumption, I'm seeing a lot of clock this thing down to help power and very little improvement in the chip as you imply.
And stop the AMD marketing spin...
"it's putting out new products, not die shrinks" ... huh? AMD is on 45nm, they don't have 32nm until end 2010 (for SOI - forget the weak attempt to confuse the press with talk of 32nm Bare Si processes), maybe early 2011... how exactly are they supposed to do a shrink with nothing to shrink to? You make is sound as if they have a choice in the matter.
Natural speed and power varients within the same process have existed in the IC industry since the dawn of the IC.
Unsurprisingly, both Intel & AMD have been marketing speed and power varients off the same product family for a long time.