AMD Aims Opteron-X ‘Kyoto’ Chips at Growing Microserver Space

AMD Aims Opteron-X ‘Kyoto’ Chips at Growing Microserver Space

by Jeffrey Burt

AMD Has a Multi-Prong Strategy for the Microserver Space

AMD’s new Opteron-X processors—the X2150 and X1150—bring the chip maker’s x86 chips into the microserver mix. AMD already had traction in the space after buying SeaMicro last year, and officials have said the company will begin making ARM-based server chips in 2014.

AMD’s Kyoto Chips Offer High Performance, Energy Efficiency

The company’s SoCs include as many as four cores and 32GB of DRAM, and are based on AMD’s “Jaguar” core architecture. They also consume as little as 9 watts of power.

The Opteron X2150 Includes Integrated Graphics

Integrated into the X2150 are 128 AMD Radeon 8000 cores—seen here in the red block—enabling customers to leverage the SoC for multimedia server workloads. The chip consumes as little as 11 watts of power.

The X1150 Chips is a CPU-Only Version

The Opteron X1150 does not include the integrated graphics technology, and it optimized for general scale-out server workloads, AMD officials say. It consumes as little as 9 watts.

SeaMicro is a Key Part of AMD’s Microserver Strategy

AMD in 2012 bought SeaMicro, a microserver vendor that at the time was partnering with Intel. The acquisition not only brought AMD systems—such as the SeaMicro SM15000 system—but also the company’s Freedom Fabric technology.

Intel is Moving Aggressively Into the Microserver Space

Intel officials last year launched the Atom S1200 SoCs, optimized for microservers. HP, in its Project Moonshot initiative, opted to run its first low-power microservers on Intel’s technology.

Intel Later This Year Will Come Out With ‘Avoton’

The next generation of microserver-optimized Atom chips, dubbed Avoton, will come out later this year, and will be 22-nanometer chips based on the upcoming “Silvermont” microarchitecture. In this photo, Raejeanne Skillern, director of cloud marketing at Intel, holds an Avoton SoC in her left hand and a Centerton chip in her right.

Calxeda Offers 32-Bit ARM-Based SoCs

Calxeda, with its EnergyCore chips, and other chip makers already are offering 32-bit ARM-based server chips and will make 64-bit chips based on ARM’s 64-bit ARMv8 architecture next year.

Marvell Also Sells ARM-Based Server Chips

The chip maker’s quad-core Armada XP multi-core chips is based on ARM’s v7 designs.

Applied Micro Has a 64-Bit ARM Chip in Hand

Applied Micro has a 64-bit ARM chip that not only has been tested by both HP and Dell in their low-power microservers.

HP and Its Project Moonshot

HP officials are looking to build low-power microservers, starting with Intel’s Atom chips. Moonshot servers eventually also will include chips from AMD and ARM partners.

Dell is Pushing Into the Microserver Space

Dell is testing a range of ARM-based SoCs in its microservers. Here is a shot of a Dell Zinc microserver running on Calxeda EnergyCore chips.