In past few days both Intel and AMD have introduced new top-of-the-line server processors. AMD added world’s first 8- and 12-core x86 processors to their Opteron lineup on Monday. Intel followed AMD’s announcement by introducing Xeon 7500 processor series that is based on Nehalem architecture and comes with up to eight cores.

AMD claims that the new Opteron 6000 series offer up to two times performance boost compared to previous generation 6-core processors, including an 88 percent increase in integer performance and a 119 percent increase in float point performance. The new processors support four channels of DDR3 memory for up to 2.5x improvement in overall memory bandwidth. AMD will be releasing five 12-core processors and five 8-core processors, ranging in speed from 1.7GHz to 2.4 GHz with ACP range of 65W to 105W and 12MB L3 cache. Price for the new Opteron 6000 series processors will be between $266 and $1,386.

According to Intel the new Xeon 7500 show the largest performance leap in Intel Xeon processor history, with an average improvement of 3x across a range of benchmarks. Intel Xeon processor 7500 series supports up to eight integrated cores and 16 threads, and can scale up to 32 core and 64 threads per 4-chip platform or 64 cores and 128 threads per 8-chip platform, and is available with frequencies up to 2.66GHz and 24MB of Intel Smart Cache memory, four Intel QPI links and Intel Turbo Boost technology. Thermal Design Point (TDP) power levels range from 95 watts to 130 watts. Price range for the processors will start at $856 for four-core processor and go all the way up to $3692 for top of the line eight-core processor.

Both the companies claim leadership in performance, power efficiency and overall value. However, both the companies are aiming for different segments of the high-end server market. Intel is going for high performance server market dominated by custom solution providers like IBM and Sun, whereas, AMD is aiming at value conscious 2P and 4P server market.