AMD six-core 'Istanbul' Opteron Tests

AMD has given a glimpse at what its upcoming six-core Opteron processors (amd Istanbul). As reported by The Tech Report, the server CPUs were shown off in three systems - two quad-socket and one dual-socket, running everything from Windows Server 2008 to Server 2008 plus three virtual machines with Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Linux and SLES 11 x64 installed.


The dual socket server with 12 cores

Manufactured using the 45nm process technology, the six-core CPUs are compatible with current Socket F motherboards making the upgrade simple and easy, have dual-channel DDR2 memory controllers, HyperTransport 3.0 and 6MB of L3 cache. The Istanbul Opterons are expected to make their debut in the second half of this year and will be followed in 2010 by the DDR3-supporting Sao Paolo models.


Four sockets = 24 cores ready for battlesource The Tech Report.

AMD’s first 45 nm processor in volume production

AMD 45 nm Opteron Shanghai

San Francisco (CA) - AMD somewhat surprisingly confirmed in a conversation with Cnet’s Brooke Crothers that the company’s first 45 nm processor is in full production “right now”. First silicon from the production should be arriving at partners shortly, which would mean that the company can keep its promise to introduce the 45 nm Opteron, code-named “Shanghai” in Q4. A desktop version will follow with the usual delay of about 60 days.

Last year’s introduction of the 65 nm quad-core Opteron processor with Barcelona core, was not especially impressive. Initial delays were amplified through a TLB bug that sent shockwaves through the company and caused AMD to lose market share in the DP and MP server markets to Intel. Barcelona servers such as Sun’s M2 models arrived 8 months later than originally anticipated. According to an article published by Cnet, the 45 nm shrink, Shanghai is “ready to go” and will be available in product before the end of the year.

AMD claims that Shanghai will be about 20% faster than Barcelona at comparable clock speeds, it will offer three times the cache (6 MB instead of 2 MB) and support Hypertransport 3. AMD decided to roll out 45 nm with the higher-end, more profitable Opterons first and launch a 45 nm desktop CPU, code-named Deneb, with some distance. That distance is typically 60-90 days, but it appears that Deneb is prepped for a Q4 rollout as well. As it looks right now, Shanghai could be announced in October and Deneb a few weeks before Christmas.

AMD Shanghai

Shanghai will maintain an “average power consumption” 55, 75 and 105 watts and, according to the company, we should expect at least one Shanghai SKU to outperform Intel’s six-core Dunnington processor. AMD’s own six-core processor, code-named Istanbul (all AMD server and desktop processor code names follow the locations of Formula 1 race tracks), is promised to be introduced as a monolithic CPU in Q4 of 2009, also with an average power consumption of 55, 75 and 105 watts.

AMD Istanbul

read full story..