Dell PowerEdge Servers Get AMD 45nm Quad-Core Opterons

AMD's new quad-core Opteron processors have already found themselves in Dell's PowerEdge servers, with eight new models offering the 45nm chips.  Both two and four socket versions are available, with three blade servers, four rack servers and a desktop server all on offer; Dell are claiming up to 49-percent Java performance increases over previous AMD-based PowerEdge models.

Two of the rack options already hold the number one position for VMark scores of a two and four socket server.  That's in part down to the company's Dual HT Link system, which boosts bandwidth between the processors for a 12-percent performance improvement.

Meanwhile the servers also have lower power demands.  AMD's 'Shanghai' 45nm Opteron quad-cores have triple the L3 cache of the previous generation and are compatible with faster DDR2-800 RAM.  Currently available in server versions, desktop CPUs based on the architecture will be available in Q1 2009.