Six-Core AMD Opteron™ Processor Features 

Key Product Features

• Six true cores
• HyperTransport™ technology (HT) assist
• Increased HT3 bandwidth
• AMD-P power management technologies
• AMD-Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) technology
• Same power/thermal ranges as Quad-Core AMD Opteron™ processors
• 20%-50%* higher performance than Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor in the same power band

Feature details

HyperTransportTM technology Assist (HT Assist) reduces cache probe traffic between processors, which can result in faster queries in 4 and 8-way servers that can increase performance for cache sensitive applications such as database, virtualization, and compute intensive applications.

HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology (HT3) increases interconnect rate from 2GT/s with HT1 up to a maximum 4.8GT/s with HT3, helping improve overall system balance and scalability.

Integrated DDR2 DRAM Memory Controller: Low-Power Memory To Reduce Power Consumption
AMD's Integrated Memory Controller works exclusively with high bandwidth, energy-efficient DDR2 memory. It incorporates Memory RAS for increased fault tolerance to reduce system downtime and increase system reliability.

AMD-P power management technologies

Enhanced AMD PowerNow!™ Technology with Independent Dynamic Core Technology allows each core to vary its frequency, based on the specific needs of the application. This allows for more precise power management to reduce data center energy consumption and thereby reduce total cost of ownership (TCO).

Dual Dynamic Power Management™ allows each processor to maximize the power-saving benefits of Enhanced AMD PowerNow! technology without compromising performance. Dual Dynamic Power Management can reduce idle power consumption and allow for per-processor power management in multi-socket systems to decrease power consumption.

AMD CoolCore™ Technology evaluates which parts of the die - the cores, the memory, or both - are needed to support currently running applications. It can cut power to unused transistor areas to reduce power consumption and lower heat generation.
AMD PowerCap Manager gives an IT manager the ability to put a cap on the P-state level of the cores via the BIOS.  This can help reduce processor power consumption of a system.

AMD Smart Fetch Technology enables inactive cores to write contents of their L1 and L2 caches to the shared L3 cache.  This can allow the inactive cores to enter a "halt" state and draw less power, reducing CPU power consumption.

AMD-V technology

Rapid Virtualization Indexing and Tagged-TLB were developed to allow the translation of virtual to physical memory addresses in hardware instead of software.  This helps decrease latency, improve performance, and increase the number of virtual machines running on each physical machine-allowing for a higher performing, more flexible IT environment.

Extended Migration allows movement of a virtual machine between two physical machines running AMD Opteron™ processors on many virtualization software solutions.  AMD Extended Migration is backward compatible with Single-, Dual-, Quad-, and Six-Core AMD Opteron processors.

AMD-Vi supports I/O level virtualization which provides direct control of devices by a virtual machine (requires SR5690/SR5670 chipsets).  This improves performance through direct assignment of devices to a guest OS, and improves isolation and helps improves security for the VM's.