30925 Rev. 3.04 February 2004 Builder’s Guide for AMD Opteron™ Processor-
Based Servers and Workstations
Appendix B FAQs 51
Appendix B contains frequently asked questions concerning AMD Opteron™ processors and the
validated server program.
B.1 AMD Opteron™ Processor FAQs
Q: What markets are the AMD Opteron series processors targeted for?
A: The AMD Opteron processor 100 series is for use in 1-way servers and workstations. One-
way servers are commonly used by Internet and application service providers (ISPs/ASPs),
eBusiness and data center customers for edge-of-the-network workloads such as DNS
servers, DHCP servers, security encryption as well as in network attached storage (NAS) and
storage area network (SAN) devices. One-way workstations are commonly used by CAD,
architectural, and DCC professionals to create solid models, diagrams, or digital effects.
The AMD Opteron processor 200 series is for use in 2-way servers or workstations.
Enterprise workloads typically benefiting from 2-way server processing power include large
databases, business processing (ERP, CRM, and SCM), business intelligence, as well as
other IT infrastructure applications including heavy-duty Web serving and messaging.
Workstation applications that take advantage of the performance of the AMD Opteron
processor include digital content creation, mechanical and electrical design, financial
analysis, and 3-D modeling.
The AMD Opteron processor 800 series is for use in up to 8-way servers. Enterprise
workloads typically benefiting from 4-way and 8-way server processing power include large,
mission-critical databases, business processing (ERP, CRM, and SCM), business
intelligence, as well as other IT infrastructure applications including heavy-duty Web
serving and messaging.
Q: What motherboard support is available for the 100 series processors?
A: The AMD Opteron processor 100 series is currently supported by the ASUS SK8N
motherboard with NVIDIA Nforce3 Pro150 chipset, available through distribution
worldwide. It is also supported by the MSI MS-9130 motherboard with VIA K8T800
chipset, available through the manufacturer.
Q: What software supports these processors?
A: AMD Opteron processors are based on the industry-standard x86 instruction set and are thus
supported by the thousands of applications based on this instruction set. All 32-bit
Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003,
include support for the AMD Opteron processor, as do the major 32-bit Linux distributions
SuSE, Red Hat, TurboLinux, MandrakeSoft, SCO, among others. Commercial 64-bit
versions of SuSE Linux, United Linux, and MandrakeSoft are available today and several
other 64-bit operating systems are in development, including the 64-bit version of Microsoft