AMD is unveiling a new low-power version of its six-core "Istanbul" Opteron processor for servers which debuted in June. Complementing its 55, 75 and 105W variants, the Opteron 2419 EE rounds out the lineup with an ACP rating of just 40W and is aimed at two-socket servers for dense computing and virtualization environments where price/performance per watt is key.

The new Opteron EE has the same Istanbul silicon as the rest of the 2400 series, but it runs at a slower 1.8GHz. The processor still boasts 6MB of L3 cache, the same HyperTransport speed, and the same virtualization features, though; so for customers who have power constraints it comes as a good alternative while still providing superior performance than comparable quad-core Opterons.

The new 45nm CPU has been designed for Socket F (1207)-compatible platforms, it is expected to cost $989 in 1000-unit tray quantities, and should end up competing with Intel's 60W Nehalem-based quad-core Xeons.