The HyperTransport Consortium announced version 3.0 of the technology on Monday, increasing the link throughput speed, physical distance, and adding an "unganged" mode that can split the available bandwidth into two distinct channels. The new spec bumps clock speeds up to 2.6GHz, yielding a maximum 20.8GB/s of full-duplex bandwidth with a 16-bit link. HT 3.0's performance is slightly less than double the 1.4 GHz, 11.2-Gbyte throughput allowed by HyperTransport 2.0.

The third version of the specification introduces four key enhancements, Cavalli, general manager of the HyperTransport Consortium, said: an optional "AC" mode, which allows a HyperTransport connection to be extended across a greater physical distance; the unganging mode, which allows the 32-bit link to be split up into two-16-bit connections, and power management capabilities, by which designers can adjust the link speeds and power used to trade off between the available power and performance. Finally, the technology now supports hot-plugged components, which can be replaced without powering down a key server.

The new AC mode allows physical connections of up to a meter in length and perhaps more in future revisions, according to Doug O'Flaherty, division acceleration strategy manager at AMD, who defined his job title as one that required seeking out "new opportunities for AMD silicon and AMD platforms".

AMD is expected to transition to HyperTransport 3.0 by next year, likely with its new 65nm K8- and K8L-based Opterons.