AMD Begins Shipping Six-Core Opteron

“Because the Istanbul family of Opteron 1000, 2000 and 8000
processors are socket-compatible with the existing “Barcelona” and
“Shanghai” line of quad-core parts, it is possible to upgrade an
existing server to the new processor. All that must be done aside
from upgrading the chip is to upgrade the computer’s BIOS
(define).

“AMD had initially planned to release Istanbul in the second
half of the year, but due to rapid progress on its part was able to
move up the release date. In a pre-taped video statement, AMD CEO
Dirk Meyer said the company had “executed ahead of internal
expectations and beat its own performance and power goals.”

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