AMD Partners Demonstrate "Barcelona" at 1.6 GHz

Quad-Core AMD Opteron demonstrated by MSI, Supermicro, TYAN and Uniwide

AMD took the opportunity at Computex to server platforms running the Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, codenamed Barcelona, with the help of MSI, Supermicro, TYAN and Uniwide


The AMD quad-core processors are designed to drop-in (following a BIOS upgrade) with all existing AMD Opteron processor-based systems using DDR2 memory, while also enabling new platform capabilities such as those being demonstrated today.

One vendor demonstrated Barcelona to DailyTech running at 1.6GHz. Current AMD Barcelona samples are not scaling too well. AMD partners confirmed the highest running, POST and OS capable, Barcelona processor is 2.0 GHz. AMD previously posted benchmarks of a simulated 2.6 GHz Barcelona.
“We commend AMD for its non-disruptive roadmaps, allowing for a smooth upgrade from dual-core to quad-core,” said Danny Hsu, president, TYAN. “Streamlining and mitigating the complexities customers often face when upgrading their IT infrastructure is especially important in today’s competitive marketplace. TYAN has collaborated with AMD since 2001, and we will continue to support and take advantage of the customer-centric innovation AMD is offering in its quad-core processors when they are made available later this year.”

AMD roadmaps show Barcelona-based Opteron processors will launch in July, but the general consensus from partners is the processor isn’t performing well enough for a July launch.

“Quad-core, codenamed Barcelona will launch later this summer, in the July, August kind of time frame -- followed by [consumer chips] on the desktop... You'll see that in the Christmas line-up,” stated Robert Rivet, AMD executive vice president and CFO, just a few months ago.
Reference:Kristopher Kubicki&Marcus Yam,dailytech