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AMD Announces Quad FX Platform
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Quad FX based systems will initially be available with dual-core processors. Launching today with Quad FX are the Athlon 64 FX-74, FX-72 and FX-70. Additionally, Quad FX systems will be compatible with AMD’s upcoming quad-core processors for a total of eight processor cores.
AMD claims Quad FX is needed because “The emergence of a dual-socket consumer platform is critical for enthusiasts who demand systems that offer the sheer power and system headroom to let the enthusiast configure this system to his or her heart’s content, and launch a fleet of entertainment and productivity applications at once,” said Bob Brewer, corporate vice president, Desktop Division, AMD. “AMD is redefining performance by enabling our customers to take advantage of the amazing megatasking capability of two AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 series processors in the AMD Quad FX Platform.”
Joining AMD with the launch of Quad FX is NVIDIA. NVIDIA today is also launching its nForce 680a MCP for Quad FX systems. With the nForce 680a MCP Quad FX systems feature a total of 56 PCIe lanes and 12 links. This comes out to four PCIe x16 slots with two full-speed and two half-speed slots. Eight additional PCIe x1 lanes are available for other peripherals, slots and etc… Up to 20 PCI slots are supported, though there may be slot placement issues on motherboards.
Plenty of I/O options will be available on nForce 680a based Quad FX motherboards. NVIDIA’s nForce 680a supports a total of 12 SATA 3.0Gbps ports and four PATA devices across two channels. RAID levels 0, 1, 0 + 1, 5 and JBOD are supported with the integrated SATA controller.
Plenty of networking options are available with the nForce 680a MCP. Four Gigabit Ethernet controllers are available with the nForce 680a MCP, though its up to the board manufacturer to implement it. Nevertheless, the four Gigabit Ethernet controllers support NVIDIA’s FirstPacket, DualNet, Teaming and TCP/IP offload technologies.
Other notable features of the nForce 680a MCP include up to 20 High-speed USB ports and high definition audio.
Pricing of Athlon 64 FX-70 series start at $599 for a pair of FX-70’s and top out at $999 for a pair of FX-74’s. Availability of Quad FX systems and parts are expected in early 2007. Currently, Asus is the only known motherboard manufacturer to have a Quad FX motherboard ready. DailyTech previously revaled images of ASUS’ upcoming Quad FX motherboard.
AMD Tries To Leapfrog Intel By Showing Single-Die, Quad-Core Server Processor **********************************AN EXCERPT ************************************
AMD demonstrated the first native quad-core x86 server processor at its annual Analyst Forum on Thursday.
By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek Nov 30, 2006 03:56 PM
AMD took a big step today in its efforts to close the gap that rival Intel created when it came out with its line of quad-core processors this fall. AMD on Thursday marked its own spot in the quad-core market by demonstrating the first native quad-core x86 server processor at its annual Industry Analyst Forum in Berkeley, Calif.
What will be the next big evolution in AMD's processor family won't be ready to ship until mid-2007, but the company hit a milestone by showing industry analysts and customers that it's moving along in its production cycle.
Dan Olds, a principal with the Gabriel Consulting Group, says AMD is trying to tell potential customers not go with Intel, but instead wait until AMD can come out with its quad-core server processor. "This is very important for AMD," he adds. "They're in a position now where they're perceived as being behind Intel, as far as the products they have out there now. AMD needs to show that they're going to be leapfrogging Intel in the future."
Since Intel was first with a quad-core product, AMD has some catching up to do, according to Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group. Six months from now, AMD can't just come out with a processor that matches where Intel is now, he says. AMD needs to come out ahead of where Intel will be six or seven months from now.
"They can't just rush to market," says Enderle. "That's what has them pushing out the release a little bit. They need to come out with something quite a bit better. Intel made a mistake when they released the Core Duo, which was rushed to market. AMD easily outperformed it. The lesson learned is: Do it right, and then you can take share and hold it."
The quad-core demo came the same day AMD announced its Quad FX platform for the desktop. The dual-socket, multicore desktop platform is aimed at the megatasker, who runs many high-end applications at the same time.
At Thursday's demonstration, AMD showed off a quad-core processor running four x86 processing cores on a single die of silicon. Intel uses two dual-core processors and connects them so they work together.
AMD demonstrated a server with a four-socket system powered by four yet-to-be-released Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors (codenamed Barcelona) manufactured on 65-nm silicon-on-insulator process technology. The server used all 16 cores.