AMD starts shipping 12-core Opterons
CHIPMAKER AMD is reporting that it is churning out and shipping its latest 8-core and 12-core processors, codenamed Magny Cours, to select OEMs and Ebay auctioneers.
Magny Cours or rather Opteron 61xx chips feature revised quad channel memory controllers and remain within the 75W power envelope occupied by their predecessors, the 6-core Istanbul chips. However the Opteron 61xx requires a new socket, the G34, so it won't be a drop-in upgrade like the step up from Shanghai to Istanbul was.
In order to meet this impressive power target, AMD has scaled back the clock speeds and reined in the core voltage. But none of this really matters as those who deploy these will jump for joy at the fact that their existing cooling solutions will be able to cope with twice the number of cores.
