AMD announced yesterday that they will be releasing 3 new "dual-core" Opteron processors. Dubbed the 180, 280, and 880, these processors will each contain two 2.4Ghz cores; the first digit in the model number specifying how many of those CPU"s contained a server for optimal performance.
AMD has had dual-core server offerings available for just under 6 months. The previous set of dual-core server chips from AMD maxed out at 2.2Ghz with a very limited amount of Special Edition, higher voltage 2.4Ghz chips being made available. AMD is offering dual-core server chips for the same price as the single-core variants trying to push the technology.
Meanwhile Intel announced today that their first dual-core "Paxville" Xeon processors will be made available this October. Intel has revealed that their low end dual-core part (2.8Ghz) will outperform a comparable single-core 3.6Ghz chip in multi-threaded applications. Intel is banking on large OEM"s like Dell to help them make inroads into a market already saturated with 6 months of AMD offerings.