The CPUs

With the series 4200 and 6200 AMD claims to have improved all three aspects than the previous generation and also in comparison to the competition.

The following tests were compiled using the best compiler and linked with the best library for the platform in question. This means that the tests have been compiled for use AMD's new exclusive FMA4 and XOP instructions and AMD ACML 5.0 library, optimized for the Bulldozer architecture. This also explains, in part, the excellent results. The good results in memory tests, however, is all due to AMD: efficiency of the RAM controller and HT links between CPUs with HT-assist.

HPC Performance: 2 Opteron 6276 generated 84% more power in the LINPACK benchmark of 2 Xeon 5670.

Memory Bandwidth: 2 Opteron 6276 generated 73% more memory bandwidth in the test STREAM 2P of 2 Xeon 5670.

Efficiency and economy for the cloud and virtualization: half power per core than the best Xeon (4.375W against 10W), 2/3 less space for the same core (2P rack systems can accommodate 12 Intel cores against 32 AMD cores) and finally 1/3 to 2/3 less in retail price for TOP of the range AMD complete server solutions against Intel’s.

AMD has chosen to make the comparison with Xeon 5670 CPU (Gulftown esa-core server party) because it constitutes the vast majority of sales of Intel's server market.

The Bulldozer CPU architecture is based on modules, of which a detailed description can be found in our previous article.

The 4200 series solutions are similar to the desktop configurations with solutions from 4 to 8 cores, arranged in modules, with 64KB L1 instruction cache per pair of cores, 16KB L1 data cache per core, 2MB of L2 cache per pair of cores and 8MB of total L3 cache. The Opteron 4200-based systems have up to two sockets with DDR3 1600MHz dual-channel per socket, three HT links x16 3.0 per socket, up to 6.4GT/s and frequencies up to 3.3GHz, base, and 3.7GHz with maximum turbo core, with solutions from 35 to 95W consistent with the previous 4100 series, being installable, after updating the BIOS, even in existing systems.

The solutions of the 6200 Series double the 4200 series features, being based on two dice in MCM configuration, with solutions from 4 to 16 cores, arranged in modules, with 64KB L1 instruction cache per pair of cores, 16KB L1 data cache per core, 2MB of L2 cache per pair of cores and 16MB total L3 cache per socket, with solutions of two to four-socket, four DDR3 1600MHz channels per socket, four HT links x16 3.0 per socket, up to 6.4GT/s and frequencies up to 3.3GHz, base, and 3.6GHz with maximum turbo core, with solutions from 85 to 140W consistent with the previous 6100 series, being installable, after updating the BIOS, even in existing systems.