Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[KeithDust2000]

Valve Releases Hammer Port of Counterstrike Server

"64-bit Counter-Strike Linux Server Provides Performance Gain for World’s #1 Online Action Game



San Jose, Calif. – March 6, 2003 – Valve, L.L.C., creators of Counter-Strike and Half-Life, today announced immediate availability of a 64-bit version of the Counter-Strike dedicated server using the upcoming AMD OpteronTM processor. Counter-Strike has the largest service footprint of any game on the Internet, with 35,000 servers generating over 4.5 billion player minutes per month.

“These server operators are extremely sophisticated, and were some of the earliest adopters of Linux,” said Gabe Newell, Valve managing director. “We expect them to be leading-edge adopters of the AMD64 platform. AMD’s approach to 64-bit computing looked great on paper, and it’s nice to see that with real processors and development tools that it fulfills that promise. Every PC developer should be looking to get their server code and development tools running in 64-bits right away.”

In a straight port of code highly optimized for x86-32, Counter-Strike dedicated server tests with both 32- and 64-bit versions revealed a 30% clock-for-clock gain, and is expected to show further performance gains in future upgrades.

“Valve Counter-Strike servers with 64-bit computing can offer customers a better overall gaming experience, and AMD processors will enable this performance boost,” said Barry Crume, director of server segment product marketing, Computational Products Group, AMD. “With 64-bit dedicated servers using AMD Opteron processors, Valve will offer online gamers increased reliability, improved stability and greater throughput.”

About Valve
Founded in 1996, Valve develops entertainment software titles such as Half-Life, Team Fortress and Counter-Strike. Half-Life, Valve’s debut title, was first released in November 1998 and has won over 50 Game of the Year Awards, was named “Best Game of Ever” by PC Gamer. Valve's portfolio accounts for over 8 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 88% of the online action market. More information about Valve is available through the company’s Web site at www.valvesoftware.com."

http://www.amdzone.com/releaseview.cfm?ReleaseID=1050


I hadn´t even thought of this possibility, but I think it´s a great idea! Check this: A 30% clock-for-clock gain from porting it to 64bit! And this is just for starters.