AMD Opteron 45nm Boosts Performance and Uses Less Energy

By: Sara Smith
Staff Writer
Published: Dec 12, 2008

AMD Opteron is now available in 45-nanometer technology. It is the latest move by Advanced Micro Devices to compete with rival Intel. Intel currently has 80 percent of the global market for microprocessors.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc is shipping its next generation of AMD Opteron chips ahead of schedule. The new AMD processor offers faster performance with 35 percent less power consumption.

AMD Opteron is a quad core processor which are used in servers. The company shipped the new processor months ahead of schedule to compete with Rival Intel Corp. Intel currently has 80 percent of the global market for microprocessors.

The new AMD Opteron is also code-named "Shanghai" which was first unveiled last year. The quad core is the first 45-nanometer chip made by the company. Each core operates independently on the chip. The chip is also smaller in size than the previous generation of processors.

The new processor is energy efficient which can automatically turn off non-working parts which are not in use. Overall, the new chip uses 35 percent less energy.

There are two versions of the AMD Opteron chip available. The second processor is a more enhanced version which will be available in early January. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and Dell are among 25 systems vendors who will be shipping servers this quarter with the new Opteron chip installed.