Upcoming Opteron chips will occupy the same space as single-core models

Advanced Micro Devices’ dual-core Opteron processor will fit into the same area occupied by its single-core product, helping to hold down manufacturing costs, AMD said this week at the Fall Processor Forum.

The dual-core Opteron was first demonstrated in a Hewlett-Packard server. It will come with 1MB of Level 2 cache for each core and fit into the same chip sets used by single-core Opteron chips. A chip set connects the processor to a system’s memory and I/O ports.

Each dual-core Opteron will consume no more than 95 watts under maximum operating conditions, says Kevin McGrath, an AMD fellow and manager of the Opteron processor architecture. This is slightly more than the 89 watts specified as the maximum power consumption for the current generation of single-core Opteron chips.

[Original Article]