Quick Take: AMD Istanbul Update

AMD was gracious enough to invite us to their Reviewer's Day on May 20th to have a final look at "Istanbul" and discuss their plans for the product's upcoming release. While much of the information we received is embargoed until the June, 2009 release date, we can tell you that we've have received a couple of AMD's new 6-core "Istanbul" Opterons for testing and review. We'll look forward to seeing "Istanbul" in action inside our lab over the next couple of weeks. Our verdict will be available at launch.

Instead of typical benchmarks, we'll be focusing on Istanbul's implications for vSphere before the new Opteron hits the streets (remember 6-core is the limit for "free" and "reduced capability" vSphere license). If what we saw from AMD's internal testing at Reviewer's Day is accurate , then our AMD/VMware Eco-System partners are going to be very happy with the results. What we can confirm today is that AGESA 3.3.0.3+ 3.5.0.0+ is required to run Istanbul, so start looking for BIOS updates from your vendors as the launch date approaches. The systems we reported on from Tyan back in April will be good-to-go at launch (our GT28 test systems are already running it require a beta BIOS).

SOLORI's take: We made a somewhat bold prediction on April 30, 2009 that "Shanghai-Istanbul Eco-System looks like an economic stimulus all its own" when comparing the AMD upgrade path to Intel's (rip and replace) where VMware infrastructures are concerned. That article, Shanghai Economics 101, was one of our most popular AMD-related postings yet, and - judging from what we've seen already - it looks like we may have been correct!

While we're impressed with the ability to flawlessly vMotion from socket 940 to socket-F, we were more impressed with the ability to insert an Istanbul into a Barcelona or Shanghai system and immediately realize the benefits. We're going to look at our review samples, revisit our price-performance data and Watt/VM calculations before making sweeping recommendation. However, we expect to find Istanbul to be a very good match to on-premise cloud/virtualization initiatives.

SOLORI's 2nd take: VDI and databased consolidation systems running on 4P AMD boxes are about to take a giant leap forward. We can't wait to see 24-core and 48-core VMmark scores updated over the next two months. Start asking your system vendor for updated BIOS supporting AGESA 3.5.0.0+ (Tyan are you listening? Supermicro's AS2041M is already there), and get your 4P test mule updated and prepare to be amazed...