AMD introduces its first 64bit ARM soc for servers

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AMD has announced the Opteron A1100. This is the company’s first server chip based on the ARM architecture. The Opteron A1100 comes in variants with four and eight Cortex A57 cores. According to the company, it is the first 64-bit ARM soc for servers.

The soc is produced at 28nm by Global Foundries and the clock speed will be 2GHz or higher. Up to 4MB of L2 cache is present. Furthermore, the cores can draw from a maximum of 8MB L3 cache. An A1100-soc also supports a maximum of 128GB of RAM, which can consist of four sodimm, udimm or rdimm bars. There is not only support for ddr3, but also for ddr4.

There is a pci-e 3.0 controller with support for a single x8 configuration or for two x4 lanes. Finally, the soc supports two 10GbE ports. AMD comes with a reference board on which manufacturers can base their products. This board has a micro-atx format and can address up to eight drives via sata 600.

The first samples of the Opteron A1100, codenamed Seattle, are expected to be produced this quarter, with broad availability to follow later this year. AMD has not yet disclosed pricing, but to AnandTech, the company indicates that the cost of a ‘complete package’ will be one-tenth that of a high-end Intel Xeon. AMD expects ARM socs to make up a quarter of the server market in 2019 due to the benefits in terms of consumption and cost.

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