AMD`s new Barcelona server processor range sports some rather impressive features. The question on everyone`s lips, however, is whether or not the company will manage to close the performance gap, or will Intel continue to rule the roost?

It wasn`t long ago that we had a two-horse race in the processor market between AMD and Intel, both with compelling arguments for why you should choose their chips. At one point, AMD arguably held the lead. Sadly (for the market), the recent situation has been entirely different, with Intel streaking ahead with its Xeon and Intel Core 2 Duo chipsets, leaving AMD reeling. The latter quite simply has not been able to keep up with the speed and brute processing power on offer by Intel – until now. With the next generation of its Opteron processors, AMD claims to finally have something available that rivals Intel`s hold on the market.