Tyan Computer Unveils Opteron Components

Tyan Computer on Wednesday introduced a new four-way motherboard and a case for Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron platform at the Computex exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan.

Tyan has been making a four-way Opteron motherboard for a customer in China that aims to build one of the world's fastest supercomputers, but it's now offering a new version with features and a form factor geared toward the channel, said Danny Hsu, senior director of strategic marketing and OEM sales at the Fremont, Calif.-based vendor.

The Tyan motherboard is a standard SSI version 3.5 form factor, measuring 16 x 13 inches. As a result, it can be used with cases from a variety of vendors using that form factor, Hsu said, adding that another manufacturer of four-way Opteron motherboards offers a proprietary design that fits only in its cases.

The case for Tyan's four-way Opteron motherboard is 2U high and has six fans, including two large fans in the front to draw in air and one smaller fan behind each of the four processors, Hsu said. In a traditional 1U or 2U case, a fan might be placed on the heat sink atop the processor, but with the large fans blowing in air from the front, hot air from the first pair of processors might increase the heat of the second pair, he said.

"If you buy a barebones solution from us, all of the fans and the thermals have been validated," Hsu said. "[System builders] can buy the motherboard by itself, but they may need to modify the fan location on their case to match the board."

Cases measuring 1U in height are even more difficult to work with because of the tight space, Hsu added. Heat should not be a problem, however, for system builders that use a 4U or taller case, he said.

Tyan isn't positioning the four-way Opteron motherboard as a replacement for two-way models, Hsu noted. Instead, the company aims to convince customers to consider a four-way motherboard, since a fully configured 2U server with four Opteron processors might cost only 1.5 times or 1.8 times as much as two normal two-way models, once the cost of the case, power supplies and interconnect card are considered, he said.

The motherboards are expected to ship by late June, Hsu said.