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Dual-Core AMD Opteron Prices Leak

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

April 19, 2005, 10:56 AM

Although the new dual-core Opteron server processors from AMD won't be officially announced until Thursday, pricing details have already begun to leak out. According to sources, the low-end Opteron 865 chip will cost $1,514 USD, the same as the most expensive single-core Opteron 852.

The numbers, first reported by DigiTimes, are from unnamed Taiwan motherboard manufacturers who have received the new chips. The dual-core Opteron 870 will run $2,149, with the Opteron 875 priced at $2,649. AMD's dual-core offerings are targeted at the enterprise market for use in high-powered servers.

Such prices, however, only give an indication of the cost of entry into dual-core computing. OEMs will decide on final pricing for their AMD and Intel dual-core systems, which are targeted at different markets. Intel is going after consumers with its Pentium Extreme Edition.

Intel's dual-core processor comes in at a price of $999 for a 3.2GHz version, with Alienware, Dell and Velocity Micro signed on to sell machines using the chips. AMD is expected to announce its own range of partnerships on Thursday.

By including two processing units into a single design, dual-core chips will bring improved performance when running multiple applications - even though speeds will initially be lower than current single core offerings.

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By apthompson

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 12:50 AM

Can't compare a multi-way multi-core with a single-way multi-core and expect people to sort things out beyond the marketing & price tag.

IMO, Athlon64X2 vs P4EE-EM64T is where the cost comparison needs to be made.

If adding another high-cost consumer processor is a milestone, then props to Intel. If Microsoft hadn't held up WinXP64 for two years so Intel could re-engineer their 64-bit solution for x86 compatibility, Intels consumer dualcore hurrah would have been an even less interesting.

As it stands, the thing of REAL interest here is that Intels server CPU in dual-core isn't due until 2006.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 2:44 PM

Wow... I retract my comment on the Intel dual-core. Opteron 875 priced at $2,649? That seriously is more than my car. I mean heck, why don't I just forget about college for a semester and buy a new CPU instead?

Score: 0

By roj

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 10:54 PM

You don't seriously think dual core is actually applicable to the average user do you? Oh please...

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 11:40 PM

ok... chill... it was a joke. Did I say I was going to buy one? No. Stop assuming.

Score: 0

By LinuxIsTheft

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 1:15 AM

The 875 is an 8 way chip with 2 cores. That means if you plan to build an 8 CPU / 16 core server it isn't necessarily cheap ... but a 16 CPU server is way more expensive.

The 165/170/175 1 way dual cores are supposed to be 637 / 799 / 999 when they come out in a couple of months. 637 for the equivalent of a dual opteron isn't too bad.

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 11:42 PM

That's a good explanation - didn't catch the 8-way part before. Anyway, it's not like I've ever been a top-end buyer anyway. I always wait until the new technology is just a little bit to old be priced as "new" :-D That strategy always ends up with the best value.

Score: 0

By nate

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 4:03 PM

Well, you're not an enterprise user in need of a top-of-the-line server, so you're not the target market for the chip!

Score: 0

By wincement

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 4:26 PM

lol. True, true...

Score: 0

By nate

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 6:44 PM

Although the dual core Intel PCs are going to cost a good $500 to $1000 more than single core ones, so you're still going to pay quite a bit to be an early adopter :)

Score: 0

By snoopy3216

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 2:04 PM

mighty expensive, think ill go with intel

Score: 0

By Tenoq

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 9:30 PM

You'd want to go Intel right now, unless you're planning on running a server board with registered ECC RAM too :P

Completely different target markets. In some respects, the AMD target makes more sense: home-users aren't going to see the benefits of dual-core like a server system will.

Score: 0

By jbaltz69

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 2:34 PM

Most consumers don't buy server processors, they buy desktop processors and the dual core desktop processors top out around 600 dollars a chip. They are talking about server processors for corporations in this article...

Score: 0

By mhguy15

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 6:52 PM

Wrong!!!! they are starting at $999 and that is if you are a wholesaler and buy at least 1000 cpus.

Score: 0

By ArabianNight

posted Apr 19, 2005 - 6:34 PM

one word for the price: wow

Score: 0

By M0f0

posted Apr 20, 2005 - 1:29 AM

Please realise that these are server processors. Desktop processors will be way cheaper. Hell, if AMD's prices are the same as Intel, I'd still go with AMD.

Score: 0

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