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New AMD Processor Focused On Energy Efficiency Over High Performance: Page 2 of 2

AMD research showed operators of traditional data centers are more focused on raw performance, core scalability and memory scalability, but that operators of cloud data centers are less focused on those and more focused on power efficiency, density and cost. "The way their applications are designed might not be that processor-intensive and so they're very focused on making sure they are optimizing around performance per watt, per square foot and per dollar," Longoria said.

To be sure, Intel is also marketing low-power chips for the cloud provider space, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at the research firm Insight64. He cited Intel's Westmere Xeon line, some of which operate at 60w and 40 watts and are priced at $958 and $530, respectively. Some of the new AMDs operate at 50W and 32W parts and are priced at $255 and $316, depending on the number of cores. The AMD chips are "dramatically undercutting Intel's price and consuming a tad less power," Brookwood noted. "The Intel systems will most likely offer a tad more performance on CPU benchmarks, but users in this segment don't care that much about CPU performance, so that advantage won't make much difference here." (Disclaimer: AMD paid the travel expenses for this reporter to take
briefings on the Lisbon news in Austin, Texas.)

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