Inside Opteron

The April 22 launch of Opteron, AMD's new 64-bit processor, was auspicious in many ways. At the time of its introduction, AMD revealed System Performance Evaluation and Transaction Processing Performance Council benchmark results that confirm what AMD has been saying all along: Opteron is not only a very capable 32-bit CPU, but even in its first-generation 64-bit performance compares well against market leading processors Power, Alpha, and Itanium 2 from IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel, respectively.

Opteron is already available in two- and four-processor servers now shipping. And users will have their pick of 64-bit operating systems. Microsoft committed to a 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2003, Red Hat voiced its support, SuSE and Mandrake are already shipping commercial Linux for Opteron, and Sun Microsystems has announced plans to build an Opteron version of Solaris. IBM perhaps made the biggest splash with a dual commitment: The leading Linux database, DB2, is now available as a 64-bit downloadable beta for Opteron. And IBM will soon build and market Opteron-based servers, potentially making Opteron a serious contender against Intel's universally adopted Xeon and fast-rising Itanium 2.

Opteron is a contender in entry-level HPC (high-performance computing) servers and workstations today, with several system and component manufacturers already delivering Opteron-based products. But chief rivals Intel and IBM aren’t standing still. Indeed, both vow to bury Opteron with Power5 and Itanium 2. The only questions we can examine now relate to Opteron’s strengths and weaknesses compared with other CPUs, mainly Intel’s. The sword hanging over AMD’s head is the planned reshaping of the CPU market by much larger competitors.

AMD’s primary challenger is undoubtedly Intel. Xeon owns the 32-bit server market and has a healthy chunk of overall server sales up to the mid-tier level. Intel has given Xeon faster bus and memory speeds, and Xeon scales up to 32 processors per system. However, nothing Intel does can give Xeon the 64-bit computation and data-handling capabilities that make Opteron and Itanium 2 so appealing on large-scale database and scientific and technical workloads. But Itanium 2 has a longer track record, more buy-in from major vendors (including IBM), and the ability to extract substantial speed gains from smarter compilers. AMD is hoping that Itanium 2 will be hampered by a higher price tag, higher power consumption, and the inability to run 32-bit x86 software at native speeds.

Native versus emulated

Opteron’s main claim to fame is a capability no other 64-bit CPU possesses: It can run 32-bit x86 applications at the chip’s full clock speed. The 1.8GHzOpteron runs 32-bit applications at speeds comparable to or exceeding a 2GHz Xeon MP, and that will improve as AMD makes Opteron’s clock faster.