AMD World's First Six Core Sever Processor : Istanbul

AMD recently launched the world’s first six-core server processor under the AMD Opteron series, codenamed Istanbul.

OEMs such as Cray, Dell, HP, IBM and Sun Microsystems are already in the process of churning out new systems based on the new six-core AMD Opteron.

The really great thing about these new processors is that they can be used to field-upgrade existing quad-core Opteron systems as the same Socket-F connector is used. This works out as a real plus point compared to the Intel Nehalem Xeon processors as one would have to go for new main boards, systems, chipsets and sockets.

The Istanbul comes with a power-efficient DDR2memory architecture and AMD virtualization technology.

These new processors will already be available by the time you read this and would be a great upgrade to your existing Quad-Core Opteron, as long as your server vendor gives your system the needed BIOS update to move to the new processor.