Photos: Servers ride on new Opterons

An M2 version of the single-processor Sun Fire X2100 is also available. It updates a model introduced last fall with the Rev F dual-core Opteron processors. That means the system will accommmodate an upgrade to quad-core Opterons coming in 2007. Its starting price is $945.

The Sun Fire X4500, code-named Thumper and introduced in July, has dual Opteron processors and accommodates as many as 48 hard drives, for a total storage capacity of 24 terabytes.

Sun Microsystems' Ultra 20 M2 workstation is a single-processor Opteron machine with a starting price of $995.

Hewlett-Packard's DL385 G2 server uses dual Rev F Opteron processors and smaller 2.5-inch hard drives.

As many as eight of HP's BL685c blade servers fit into a C-Class chassis. Each blade has up to four Opteron processors.

Hewlett-Packard's DL585 G2 is a 7-inch-tall rack-mounted server that accommodates as many as four Opteron processors.

IBM's x3655 houses up to two Rev F Opteron processors. It marks Big Blue's Opteron-based entry into the mainstream rack-mounted server market, not just the high-performance computing market where it had focused previously.

IBM's System x3755 server accommodates as many as four Opteron processors in a chassis 7 inches thick. It has redundant power supplies, so the machine will work even if one power supply fails.

IBM's LS41 is built from a dual-processor LS21 with an attached module housing another two Opterons, forming a double-wide blade server.