AMD Demonstrates Quad-core Opteron

AMD has demonstrated "Barcelona," a quad-core Opteron 800 CPU, according to a report from Computerworld.

The demonstration was given to analysts in Berkeley, CA, and AMD said that the new processor is designed for high-performance workstations and servers. It is scheduled to ship in Q2 2007. AMD also said it believes its processor is superior to Intel designs.

In September, Hector Ruiz, the CEO of AMD, stated that Apple would eventually become a customer of AMD CPUs. Mr. Ruiz pointed out that "Adding Advanced Micro as a supplier will be simple for Apple because the company has already adapted Macintosh operating system software to work on Intel chips, which use the same instruction set as Advanced Micro."

The Computerworld article points out that there is a basic design difference between the Intelis quad-core Woodcrest and AMDis design. "Analysts are divided on the impact of that distinction, and say that they cannot measure the difference until they compare benchmarks."