Big Blue will release three rack servers next month that will come loaded with AMD’s long-awaited quad-core processor.

IBM’s x3455, a two-socket system with up to 48GB of memory, will retail at $1,809 in the US. It's intended for customers who use scientific, technical and financial apps.

The next model in the series – x3655 – is also a two-socket job that can take up to 64GB memory and has a US price tag of $2,499. The third system is the x3755, a beast packing up to four sockets and 128GB of memory and costing $3,407.

IBM is the latest hardware vendor to punt beefy servers that come loaded with AMD’s four-core Opteron AKA Barcelona processor chip, which finally hit the channel – following months of production delays – last month.

In recent weeks Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Sun Microsystems have all stepped up to the Barcelona plate by announcing they have released systems that come loaded with the processor.

Barcelona was supposed to begin shipping to OEMs in September last year. However, a major technical bug forced the company to postpone mass distribution of the chip while the problem was fixed.

AMD's shipping delays led to a hefty drop in its market share, which Intel happily swallowed. ®

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