First Look: AMD's 'Shanghai' Opteron

On Thursday, Advanced Micro Devices launched its latest quad-core Opteron processors, code-named "Shanghai," the first built with 45 nm process technology. The Test Center had an opportunity to run a system with dual Opteron 2384 CPUs through some tests and, so far, found that it lives up to AMD's promises.

The new processors are standard wattage, rated at 75 watt ACP. High-performance "SE" (105W ACP) and energy-efficient "HE" (55W ACP) versions are expected to follow in the first quarter of 2009. AMD chose to stay with HyperTransport 1.0 for these models, primarily because the new HyperTransport 3.0 is just starting to see some support from motherboard manufacturers and the company didn't want to hold up the release any longer than necessary. Future releases will utilize HT3.

As it is, the launch is ahead of schedule, even with the additional testing and validation processes that the chip maker put into place to avoid glitches similar to those that plagued the original Barcelona and Phenom models last year.

With a focus on performance per watt, the company says one of the new processor's biggest advantages over the competition is superior hardware-assisted virtualization. Various features, especially in the on-board memory controller, allow for improved performance of virtualized environments, including faster switching between virtual machines and the ability to migrate live VMs.

One of the primary power-saving features is something AMD calls Smart Fetch. With all four cores of the chip sharing the L3 cache, Smart Fetch functions by allowing cores to enter a "halt" state during idle times. In this situation, the CPU can operate with fewer cores, thereby saving energy without impacting performance. AMD claims CPU power levels can be reduced by up to 21 percent.

In our tests, we used a Supermicro server loaded with two Opteron 2384 processors, which run at 2.71GHz each. The system had 16 GB of RAM and the operating system was Microsoft Windows Server 2008 64-bit with SP1.

At idle the entire system drew approximately 180 watts, which is much lower than similar servers we have tested in the past. Under load, the power usage averaged 224 watts, also a relatively low measurement. Using Primate Labs' Geekbench2 for benchmarking, the system reached a score of 7,912. This is one of the highest scores achieved by a server in our lab.

Taking into consideration that the unit had more memory than some of the others we compared it to, performance was still outstanding, especially when price and power consumption are factored into the equation.

By comparison, we previously evaluated a blade server containing two Intel Xeon E8450 processors at a higher 3GHz each, which achieved a GeekBench2 score of 7,429 (although with a much higher overall power draw too).

Another positive factor to take into consideration is that the new CPUs, as well as previous ones going back to 2005's Rev E, use the same Socket F (1207). This makes for an easier transition for both end customers and system integrators. Additionally, weighed against its predecessor, Barcelona, the latest SKUs offer faster clock speeds at a similar price.

1KU pricing for the standard power 2000 series ranges from $377 each for the 2.3GHz 2376 to $989 each for the 2.7GHz 2384. 8000 series chips will sell between $1,165 and $2,149 each. All are 75 watts ACP and are available now. OEM SKUs are expected to follow shortly.