Sun will use AMD Opterons : The new 64 bit (Sledgehammer ) processor

The Inquirer ^ | 08/05/2002 20:18:48 BST | Eva Glass,

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Sock'it'to'em Scott

By Eva Glass, 08/05/2002 20:18:48 BST

I TOOK A TRIP over to Old Blighty last weekend – my, oh my, that old place really needs a shake up.

But on my travels I met someone from Sun Microsystems who tipped me the wink about the "close connection" between it and AMD.

He told me, and said that I should keep it quiet, that Sun will definitely use Opterons when the CPUs formerly known as Sledgehammer launch.

Better than that – Sun will sell boxes containing multiple Sledgehammers under its own brand name.

What are the reasons for this? It's not, believe me, anything to do with the fact that Sun's roadmaps are, how can I say, pie-in-the-sky.

And it's certainly not anything to do with the fact that Sun and Intel are to love and marriage like arsenic and lace.

Nor is it because Scott McNealy wants to stick one to Michael Dell and his famous corporation.

And it's nothing to do with the fact that Sun doesn't like Microsoft very much.

As for Compaq and HP - never mind the flailing Big Blue, well they don't come into Sun's calculations. So it's nothing to do with that.

No. It's for all of these reasons. And also because the Opteron chip seems to perform very well under tests carried out in the locale of Sun's HQ. µ

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Earlier article on the Opteron :

AMD Announces 'AMD Opteron' as Brand for Next-Generation Processors

[apochromat]

Keeping it quiet bump.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

bttt

[RadioAstronomer]

Thanks for the ping!! :-)

[B Knotts]

So, Sun will finally have NUMA architecture. :-)

[Incorrigible]

This AMD chip is well liked in many quarters. Intel needs to get some more paranoia.

[texlok]

You have to really wonder about Intel's leadership, they seem to be wanting to give AMD the 64bit market, at least the desktop side. I haven't got a chance to look at the AMD offering yet, but have used/tested a few Intel machines, and they are not too hot when it comes to backwards compatibility with 32bit apps. Plus they seem sluggish when compared to the P3s/P4s.

[Jack Black]

Well lets assume this story is true. What is implied? If Sun went to the Opteron for it's workstations and high end servers it would abandon it's SPARC processor. The SPARC unlike Intel and even poor MIPS doesn't ship a lot of units. That keeps Suns costs' high. They have to divide the cost of each chip generations development over the total number of units of those chips they will sell. Which is very, very small compared to any Intel or AMD chip. Tens of thousands, not millions or tens of millions.

What OS would these boxes run? One assumes Solaris, which has been ported to Intel for years but which lately Sun seemed to have lost interest in. Or perhaps Linux which Sun has lately been more interested in.

It's hard for me to imagine that Sun would go from a proprietary chip and OS to being a Intel/Linux box maufacturer .. leaving behind it's entire legacy.

Perhaps these will simply replace the intel chips in the Cobalt rack server divisions products? That seems more likely.

[Bush2000]

This AMD chip is well liked in many quarters. Intel needs to get some more paranoia.

What this really implies is that Sun knows it really can't compete at the low-end on price/performance. This is the beginning of the end for SUNW.

[Bush2000]

It's hard for me to imagine that Sun would go from a proprietary chip and OS to being a Intel/Linux box maufacturer .. leaving behind it's entire legacy.

If they do this, they're just another OEM in a sea of OEMs.

Perhaps these will simply replace the intel chips in the Cobalt rack server divisions products? That seems more likely.

I agree. They probably want to sell server blades like HP and Compaq. Cheap. Reasonably good profit margin. But the field is pretty crowded. You have to wonder about this strategy...

[Bush2000]

So, Sun will finally have NUMA architecture. :-)

They employ Dirk Pitt? ;-)

[B Knotts]

There is one other possibility; as I pointed out above only semi-facetiously, this represents Sun's first foray into production NUMA architecture.

SGI has already been planning an Itanium-based ccNUMA product for their Origin line; it's always possible that Sun wants to leave themselves an out if they conclude that SPARC SMP is ultimately a dead end on the very high end.