AMD Takes Aim at Server Market with 32-Core Zen-based Naples Processor

Mar 08, 2017 04:00 AM EST | Yen Palec

AMD has been very public about its efforts to regain the market it had lost to its closest rival, Intel. Following the successful release of the Ryzen desktop processors for the PC market, AMD is now posing to reaffirm its presence in the data center and server industries with the launch of the 32-core Zen-based Naples processors.

Naples, which packs a massive 32 cores and based on the promising Zen architecture, will be AMD's bet in its bid to return to the server market. Naples server processors are expected to hit the market within the second quarter of the year.

AMD Enterprise general manager Forrest Norrod said that based on the company's internal benchmark tests, the Naples processors have a good chance of beating its Intel counterparts. This impending re-entry of AMD into the server market is welcomed by many tech analysts as a much-needed competition in a market dominated mainly by Intel.

According to ZDNet, Naples server processors will support up to 8-channels of memory per device. This means that a 2-socket server should be able to support up to 32 DDR4 DIMMs configured in on 16 memory channels. This particular configuration can support up to 4TB of total memory capacity.

"If we look at how they price their consumer products, it stands to reason that the versions of Naples will also undercut Intel's pricing," Norrod said

High-end Intel server chips are currently priced at around $8,898, according to PC World. If AMD releases the Naples server chips at a significantly lower price point, it could give customers a significant bargaining power.

AMD has started to disrupt Intel's pricing scheme with the competitive prices of Ryzen processors. AMD not only promises to deliver high-performance processors but also promised to deliver this hardware at a very reasonable price. Intel responded to this by reducing the price of some of its products, in order to keep AMD's aggressive pricing scheme at bay.

See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?

© 2024 Auto World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Get the Most Popular Autoworld Stories in a Weekly Newsletter

Join the Conversation

Real Time Analytics