AMD unimpressed with Intel six shooter
As you might expect, Advanced Micro Devices is keeping its chin up amid the ticktocking it's taking from rival Intel in the server space. This week's launch of the six-core "Dunnington" Xeon MP processors - which plug into four-socket and larger machines - made a lot of noise for Intel and its partners, but AMD wants you to be realistic about the prospects for processors in this part of the server space.
It also wants everyone to understand that the Dunnington Xeons aren't out-gunning its quad-core "Barcelona" Opterons by all that much - if at all.
First, here's a little server space DNA to keep in mind. According to John Fruehe, manager of worldwide market development for AMD and a former Compaq and Hewlett-Packard marketeer, the basic distribution of x86 and x64 server sales, quarter to quarter and year to year, is like this: About 20 per cent of the machinery shipped is single-socket boxes, about 70 per cent is for two-socket boxes, and around 10 percent accounts for four-socket machines. That leaves just a tiny slice for eight-socket or larger x64 iron.
