It has been an exciting year leading up to the launch of our AMD Opteron™ 6100 Series processor codenamed “Magny-Cours.”  Compared to previous generations this new part offers up to 2x the number of cores, totaling 12-core per processor. It includes up to 2x the memory channels, with 4 memory channels.  And from an I/O perspective has increased the number of HyperTransport™ technology links at a link speed of up to 6.4GT/s (that’s giga-transfers per second) per link.  Each of these improvements can help reduce some of the common bottlenecks found in servers: core, memory, and I/O performance.

So you might be telling yourself, “Doubling of cores, doubling the memory channels, and increasing the I/O, this processor must be a power hog”.

This is where our AMD-P technology comes to play.  AMD-P incorporates all of the power management technologies that are available in AMD Opteron processors.  Let’s roll through each of the features supported by our new AMD Opteron™ 6100 Series processors.

Dual Dynamic Power Management was first introduced into our products back with our Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors.  What is important about this feature is the ability to have separate power supplies to the cores and integrated memory controller.  This feature is beneficial from a power perspective because it allows the cores to operate independently from the memory controller which really compliments this next feature, Independent Dynamic Core Technology.

Independent Dynamic Core Technology allows each of our processor cores to operate at different frequencies, independent of each other.  With this capability each core can have its performance adjusted dynamically to meet the needs of its current workload.  This can help optimize the performance-per-watt on a core by core basis.  This allows the cores to operate from their max frequency all the way down to 800MHz, including the ability to lower the voltage plane for all the cores. With up to 12-cores it becomes critical that each core operates as efficiently as possible to keep dynamic power low.  As a component of our Enhanced AMD PowerNow!™ technology, this feature is enabled by default within most major operating systems that are shipping today.

AMD CoolCore™ technology is part of logic design within our processors and chipsets.  Because this technology is part of the silicon design, no drivers are required to garner the benefits in power reduction.  This technology is enabled through what is called “clock gating”.  If certain portions of logic, enabled with clock-gating, are not being used for a given operation, those logic clocks are turned off.  For example: if the memory controller is doing a lot of reads, then the write logic of the memory controller can be clocked off.  This is like shutting off the lights in an unoccupied room in the house since the room isn’t being used.

AMD PowerCap manager gives an IT manager the ability to put predefined maximum limits on the performance state (p-state) level of processor cores, reducing overall processor power consumption.  Because many workloads only occasionally need the highest processor clock speed, putting a temporary cap on clock speed can help smooth out power peaks without substantially affecting performance. It can also make power consumption (and dissipated heat) more predictable.

Advanced Platform Management Link (APML) is another feature of our AMD Opteron™ 6100 Series processors (supported in APML-enabled systems).  This link allows more visibility and control of certain elements of the processor.  This link can be connected to the integrated management controller of the platform and can offer precise digital readings of processor thermals and allow for remote monitoring and control of the processors p-state limits.

AMD Smart Fetch technology enables inactive cores to write contents of their L1 and L2 caches to the shared L3 cache. This can allow the inactive cores to enter a “halt” state and draw less power, reducing CPU power consumption.  What is great about this feature is that once a core is halted, the active cores don’t have to wake up the halted core to check if there is any updated data that the active cores need. This potentially allows the halted cores to remain in a lower power state longer.

 AMD CoolSpeed technology is a capability that enables the processor(s) to automatically drop into a lower power mode if the processor thermal specifications are exceeded. Once the processor thermals return within specification the processor can automatically return to full performance.

C1E is a power management state that allows the processor to reduce power beyond just the cores.  With C1E, the processor power can be reduced by lowering the memory controller clock speed and halting the HyperTransport™ technology links.  This new feature was extremely important for our 12-core processors with the increase in memory channel support as well as the increase in HyperTransport™ technology links within the design.

By now, with this long list of power management features that are available with our AMD Opteron™ 6100 Series processors, you can probably see why we lump our power management features under the AMD-P technology umbrella.  But I thought it was important to give the readers some detail around each of the features that make our AMD-P technology so compelling and how AMD continues to be laser focused on increasing AMD Opteron™ processor-based platforms’ power efficiencies.

Brent Kerby is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.