Processor maker AMD has unveiled a new series of x86 server processors, featuring eight and 12 cores. The new Opteron 6000 series emphasizes workload-specific performance and energy efficiency, according to a company news release, and performs at up to two times better than the company's previous six-core generation.
 

\"The AMD Opteron 6000 Series platform signals a new era of server value, significantly disrupts today's server economics and provides the performance-per-watt, value and consistency customers demand for their real-world data center workloads,\" AMD's VP and General Manager for Server and Embedded Divisions Patrick Patla said in a statement.
 

The announcement comes about two weeks after AMD's chief rival Intel also launched a new line of server processors. Intel's new Xeon 5600 series includes six-core processors based on the company's 32nm Westmere architecture. Vendors to deploy Intel's new chips in their servers include Dell, HP, IBM, Fujitsu and Verari.
 

First server makers to adopt the new AMD processors are HP, Dell, Acer and Cray.
 

The new AMD processors' performance improvement includes an 88-percent increase in integer performance and a 119-percent increase in floating-point performance from the previous generation. New units' DIMM capacity is 50 percent higher, with up to 12 per CPU, which AMD says increases available memory and improves virtualization, database and HPC application performance.
 

The product features a new power state when idle, a platform management link that enables APML platforms to be remotely monitored for power and cooling and a solution for automatic power-state reduction when the chip's temperature reaches beyond a specified limit.