Advanced Micro Devices has previewed a six-core Opteron processor code-named Istanbul that promises a 30 percent performance improvement within the same power envelope in comparison with currently available quad-core Opteron chips.
The two extra cores in Istanbul, which is based on AMD’s Shanghai server chip design, are expected to give a performance boost to data centers supporting cloud computing and ultra-dense environments that demand greater energy efficiency.
The new processor, slated for release in June, “is simply a drop-in to the existing Shanghai socket infrastructure,” said AMD spokesperson Phil Hughes. “All that is needed is a BIOS update.”
12 and 16 Cores Ahead
Istanbul has a new feature called HT Assist that provides significant memory and I/O performance increases by reducing the overhead of cache lookups, noted John Fruehe, AMD’s director of business development for server and workstation products. “Think rifle shot instead of shotgun, cutting down on a lot of the inner-chip communications,” Fruehe said.
AMD also unveiled a new product road map this week that calls for the introduction of eight- and 12-core Magny-Cours processors in 2010 as well as the release of 12- and 16-core Interlagos processors based on 32nm process technology in 2011.
“We’re currently working on new processors which we expect will deliver more than 35 times the performance of the original single-core AMD Opteron processor released in 2003,” said AMD Vice President Patrick Patla.
Meanwhile, AMD has just unleashed a new quad-core Opteron EE processor targeted at very dense data centers such as those built to support cloud-computing environments that demand both extreme energy efficiency and a balanced system that can handle high transactional demands. In comparison with AMD’s Opteron HE processor, the new 45nm chip achieves a 13 percent reduction in platform-level power consumption and up to a 14 percent reduction in processor power at idle,…