AMD Launches the AMD Opteron X-Series Family of Microserver Processors

[R0H1T]

AMD today unveiled a new family of low power server processors: the AMD Opteron X-Series optimized for scale-out server architectures. The first AMD Opteron X-Series processors, formerly known as "Kyoto," are the highest density, most power-efficient small core x86 processors ever built. The new X1150 and X2150 processors beat the top performing Intel Atom processor on key performance benchmarks, including single thread and throughput performance with superior power-efficiency, twice the cores and L2 cache with a more advanced pipeline architecture, higher integration and support for up to 32 gigabytes of DRAM -- 4x more than the Intel Atom processor.

The AMD Opteron X-Series processors come in two variants. The AMD Opteron X2150, which consumes as little as 11 watts, is the first server APU system-on-a-chip integrating CPU and GPU engines with a high-speed bus on a single die. This enables customers to take advantage of leading-edge AMD Radeon HD 8000 graphics technology for multimedia-oriented server workloads. The AMD Opteron X1150, which consumes as little as 9 watts, is a CPU-only version optimized for general scale-out workloads.


"The data center is at an inflection point and requires a high number of cores in a dense form factor with integrated graphics, massive amounts of DRAM and unprecedented power efficiency to keep up with the pace of innovation of Internet services," said Andrew Feldman, corporate vice president and general manager, Server Business Unit at AMD. "AMD has a proud history of server innovation, and the AMD Opteron X-Series processors challenge the status quo by providing unmatched capabilities to drive the most energy-efficient servers in the industry."

The AMD Opteron X-Series processors are now the world's premier small-core x86 APUs and CPUs, ideal for next-generation scale-out web and cloud applications ranging from big data analytics to image processing, multimedia content delivery, and hosting.

"Fundamental changes in computing architectures are required to support space, power and cost demands organizations need to deliver compelling, new infrastructure economics," said Paul Santeler, vice president and general manager, Hyperscale Server business segment, HP. "The new x86 AMD Opteron X-Series processors integrated into future HP Moonshot servers will continue to push the boundaries of power efficiency for social, mobile, cloud and big data workloads."

Key Facts, Performance and Technical Detail
CPU
4 "Jaguar" 64-bit x86 cores
Frequency:
X1150 CPU - up to 2 GHz
X2150 APU - up to 1.9 GHz
Power Consumption:
X1150 - as low as 9 Watts
X2150 - as low as 11 Watts
Graphics (X2150 APU only)
128 AMD Radeon HD 8000 cores
Graphics Core Next Architecture
Video encode/decode offload
Video compression offload
Memory Interface:
64-bit DDR3 with ECC (up to 1600 MHz)
Up to 32 GBytes of DRAM (SODIMM & UDIMM)
Integrated I/O:
PCI-e Gen 2 - 8 lanes
USB 2.0 - 8 ports
USB 3.0 - 2 ports
Video Interfaces - DisplayPort, VGA, HDMI
Serial-ATA2/3 - 2 ports
Package
24.5mm x 24.5mm FT3 BGA

Source

 

[R0H1T]

Now we just need some performance numbers to put it into context as to how efficient these are ^_^

 

[strata8]

From AMD's press release:

The Atom S1260 is an 8.5W part.

What's interesting is that the X2150 is priced at $100 while the comparable embedded part is $70.

 

[Ayah]

The memory support is definitely interesting

 

[R0H1T]

The Atom S1260 is an 8.5W part.

What's interesting is that the X2150 is priced at $100 while the comparable embedded part is $70.

Hmmm, 4 cores vs. 2 then 128 GCN cores vs. none, I bet that covers some of the cost differential !

 

[Abwx]

Frequency is specified as " CPU configurable frequency".

Any explanation of this semantic..?.

 

[monstercameron]

sounds like a higher clocked kabini to me althoughI don't know about the video compression offload

 

[inf64]

Frequency is specified as " CPU configurable frequency".

Any explanation of this semantic..?.

I think that it means frequency can be limited for lower TDP. So if needs be one can have 1Ghz 6-8W QC part.

 

[AtenRa]

I think that it means frequency can be limited for lower TDP. So if needs be one can have 1Ghz 6-8W QC part.

Yeap, most probably they can have a low power 1GHz Quad at 9-11W TDP or "up to" 1.9/2GHz at 17-22W.

This is the first time since 2006 that AMD has an all around better solution than Intel in the Server market (against ATOM).

Good job, keep walking

 

[LogOver]

I see a lot of problems with positioning of those processors. No one needs 128 GPU cores in data centers and web hosting servers. Even the performance is not that important there. The power consumption is the only thing which is important in this market - the reason why HP, DELL and others are trying arm servers.

 

[Abwx]

And i see a problem that mandate a pair of glasses....

 

[LogOver]

And i see a problem that mandate a pair of glasses....

That's typical fan-boy response...

 

[Abwx]

That's typical fan-boy response...

No , response of someone who take a closer look at specs
rather than writing absurdities.

No one needs 128 GPU cores in data centers and web hosting servers. .

Look at the specs again.

 

[AtenRa]

I see a lot of problems with positioning of those processors. No one needs 128 GPU cores in data centers and web hosting servers. Even the performance is not that important there. The power consumption is the only thing which is important in this market - the reason why HP, DELL and others are trying arm servers.

Obviously anyone not interested in the iGPU can use the X1150 that has even lower TDP. ARM is fine but they are not x86, you cant have windows server on ARM.

For Cloud, Data centers and web hosting, the new quad core Kabini will be perfect for many customers.

 

[Khato]

Everyone in the x86 camp should like this. Intel currently doesn't have anything good to offer in this market, so AMD coming in with a placeholder to keep the ARM attempts to enter the market at bay is a good thing. Good job protecting the x86 server market AMD

 

[exar333]

Definitely need to see a review. AMD CPUs are more expensive per CPU, use more power vs. Atom, but have better performance. This may be the case where more Atom cores is the similar cost, but with better perf/w.

Even so, this might give an edge to AMD in the micro-server arena. What will be interesting will be how AMD will keep up with the new SoC Atoms coming later this year on 22nm IIRC.

 

[MisterMac]

Everyone in the x86 camp should like this. Intel currently doesn't have anything good to offer in this market, so AMD coming in with a placeholder to keep the ARM attempts to enter the market at bay is a good thing. Good job protecting the x86 server market AMD

...so Avoton will do what exactly?

Nothing?

This is a paperlaunch - when's the actual silicon gonna hit the shelves?

 

[Blitzvogel]

I wonder if AMD will make higher core count Jaguar based chips? The PS4 and XBone both use "dual Jaguar compute units" so obviously there is some tech there that is ready for incorporating multiple 4-core Jaguar clusters together.

I'm still wondering if AMD will release a form of the PS4's APU for servers. It would make an interesting product, even with just DDR3 (but with the 256 bit bus). I'm sure there is a market for such systems where GFLOPS is a must and large, wide x86 cores are unnecessary.

 

[Chiropteran]

Sounds cool. Just need some 20X CPU 1u servers now.

 

[NTMBK]

Sounds cool. Just need some 20X CPU 1u servers now.

This. Give me buckets of cores, with enough bandwidth to feed them and standard x86 extensions (I want AVX2 support dammit)- do Xeon Phi the way it should have been in the first place!

 

[beginner99]

Sounds cool. Just need some 20X CPU 1u servers now.

And what exactly is the advanatge against a normal x86 server with less but more powerful Xeon(s) fully loaded with VMs? Higher administrative cost?

Personally those low-power servers are a niche case and a normal one will almost always be cheaper. Maybe in the future these are useful when the software is here so you can easily deploy a VM to the server and not having to manually and physically install an OS and the required apps on one of the 20 nodes.

 

[monstercameron]

And what exactly is the advanatge against a normal x86 server with less but more powerful Xeon(s) fully loaded with VMs? Higher administrative cost?

Personally those low-power servers are a niche case and a normal one will almost always be cheaper. Maybe in the future these are useful when the software is here so you can easily deploy a VM to the server and not having to manually and physically install an OS and the required apps on one of the 20 nodes.

i read somewhere that facebook was using arm servers, my assumption is that more cores the faster it will churn through concurrent requests...not necessarily for huge data crunching

 

[Vesku]

There are other considerations with dense computing in addition to power efficiency. For caching amount of RAM is very important, Atom = 8GB/cpu compared to 32GB for these Opteron X chips. Which is why you won't see ARM dense computing really get into gear until 64 bit ARM solutions are available. Opteron X is a full SoC where as Atom requires extra chipset support for basic features.

There is a reason Intel put out a lot of graphs comparing the currently available Atom to their yet to be released successor.

 

[beginner99]

i read somewhere that facebook was using arm servers, my assumption is that more cores the faster it will churn through concurrent requests...not necessarily for huge data crunching

Sites like facebook and google are niche. Because there aren't many with that kind of traffic.

 

[Sequences123]

I don't see any mention of HSA. Anyone know if these follow the specs?