AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched the AMD FirePro™ S9000 and S7000, the industry’s most powerful dual- and single-slot server graphics cards for compute, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and workstation graphics deployments in data centers^1,2. Equipped with next-generation Graphics Core Next architecture and intelligent AMD PowerTune and ZeroCore Power technologies, the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 reduce power consumption by up to 95% at idle, meaning greater savings and reduced operating costs in the data center³.

By using the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics, information technology (IT) managers can now effectively address a number of daily data center challenges, while empowering IT professionals to manage intense workloads securely from virtually anywhere in the world at virtually any time. By having the flexibility to set up multiple virtual desktops, scientists, engineers and graphics professionals can have access to accelerated productivity suites including computer aided design (CAD), and media and entertainment (M&E) applications, offering them workstation-class performance in a scalable network environment.

In a separate announcement, AMD also launched today its new AMD Opteron™ processor-based servers designed for virtualization environments; offering superior value and performance scalability as server utilization increases in the cloud.

“More companies want to virtualize their IT ecosystem in order to do more with less while remaining responsive to the needs of their users,” said David Cummings, senior director and general manager, Professional Graphics, AMD. “With the arrival of the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 GPUs, we are responding to these needs by providing a seamless solution. Our server graphics not only provide an unrivaled feature set for data center customers, but blistering compute performance and outstanding power efficiency.”

Supporting Leading Virtualization Technologies

The AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics bring improved VDI densities while supporting virtualization technologies from Citrix®, Microsoft® and VMware®, making it possible to install multiple graphics cards in a server and support multiple users remotely. Users can also access their desktops from virtually any device of their choosing, from thin clients to laptops, to tablets to smartphones – with outstanding graphics performance. A demo of VMware® ESXi direct GPU pass-through running on an AMD FirePro™ S9000 can be seen this week at VMworld® 2012 in the AMD booth (#801). With Corporate Desktop Replacement running on AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics and Microsoft® RemoteFX™, IT professionals can power multiple end users running common office applications from one GPU installed in a server. These new server graphics cards also support direct GPU pass-through for Citrix® XenServer.

Versatility and Scalability

Both server graphics cards offer a flexible and scalable solution capable of supporting remote desktop deployments; render farms, traditional workstation graphics applications, and high performance computing (HPC) implementations that require massive floating point calculations. With a single unified driver, deploying the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics in the data center can enable IT groups to reduce operating costs and time spent on servicing individual systems, increase asset utilization density, improve user experience and ultimately secure critical data.

Key Features of AMD FirePro™ S9000 Server Graphics

   
• Unmatched Compute Power: By providing 4.0 TFLOPs of single precision compute performance, AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics are up to 2.4 times faster than the competing solution⁴, effortlessly processing the most demanding computations and graphics workflows.   
• Memory Performance: Equipped with 6GB GDDR5 frame buffer, AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics deliver up to 1.49 times more memory bandwidth than competing products⁵, meaning outstanding precision and accuracy when computing complex graphics workloads.   
• Optimized Power Management: AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics allow IT managers to implement high-performance solutions that can help reduce operating costs via intelligent power saving and monitoring technologies unique to AMD.

Key Features of AMD FirePro™ S7000 Server Graphics

   
• Powerful Single-Slot, Passively-Cooled Performance: Featuring 154 GB/s of memory bandwidth and 2.4 TFLOPS of peak single-precision floating-point performance, AMD FirePro S7000 is the most powerful single-slot, passively-cooled multifunctional server graphics card on the market². In fact, AMD is the only graphics manufacturer offering a passively-cooled, single-slot server graphics card today.   
• Low Operational Costs: Consuming only 150W max power, AMD FirePro S7000 server graphics help to reduce costs and system complexity in server environments.

Pricing

Both the AMD FirePro S9000 and S7000 server graphics are rigorously tested to ensure reliable performance for demanding server environments backed by a longer term limited warranty than that typically available for consumer graphics cards, and are supported by AMD 24-hour customer support. The AMD FirePro S9000 server graphics card is available at a MSRP of $2,499 USD and the AMD FirePro S7000 server graphics card is priced at an MSRP of $1,249 USD.

Supporting Resources

   
• Learn more about AMD Professional Graphics   
• Learn more about GCN Architecture  
• Follow AMD professional graphics news on Twitter at @AMDFirePro   
• Become a fan of AMD technology on Facebook