The four-processor or “4P” server market is generally considered the server infrastructure of choice for both virtualization and mission critical applications.
It’s interesting that about 6 in 10 4P systems sold in the US are AMD based (in the rest of the world it is nearer to 5 out of 10). (see note 1)
We are also starting to see interest from customers going beyond 4P and moving to 8P when seeking extreme efficiency and enhanced support for large virtualization and IT consolidation endeavors. Take a look at
Sun Microsystems and
HP's 8P offerings. Both OEMs recognize the inherent value that AMD's
Direct Connect Architecture can deliver for multi-processor systems.
With our key partners now shipping
Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors, I asked my team to tell me a couple of things that were different about those processors. While I know some of the world is obsessed with their Ghz (déjà vu all over again) here are a couple of interesting observations:
•
Red Hat recently conducted performance testing of
Oracle 10G OLTP on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based HP platforms in a fully virtualized environment. The testing showed that a fully virtualized guest with advanced features such as Red Hat’s para virtual driver and
AMD Rapid Virtualization Indexing turned on can yield up to an estimated 249% performance improvement over a fully virtualized environment that does not have those features turned on. (see note 2)
• There are many examples of the low power advantages that the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor-based platform has over the competition. If you look where a majority of servers operate, less than 20% utilization, the AMD based platform can offer up to a 20% reduction in operational cost as it pertains to electricity to both operate and cool the platform. (see note 3)
Not the whole story, yes, but it’s not a bad story either!
(1) Data from
IDC’s Q4-2007 Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker
(3) Energy estimates for 42 servers (full rack) & include power input & cooling at 60%, Power Utility cost: $0.10/KW-hr, based on 24/7 365 days a year operation at specified load examples. The examples contained herein are intended for
informational purposes only, actual results will vary. Other factors will affect real-world power consumption and cost. Assumptions based on actual measured systems
SPEC and the benchmark name SPECint and SPECfp are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. The comparison estimates presented above
are based on the SPECfp workload for Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processor Model 2350 & Quad-Core Intel Xeon Model E5430
Nigel Dessau is senior vice president and chief marketing officer at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD's positions, strategies or opinions.