We all know Intel’s Nehalem-based Xeons are targeting server and workstation computers, but today AMD lifted some secrets of it’s upcoming products, and thus future, with its six-core Opteron processor code-named “Istanbul”.

“Istanbul is a fairly straightforward upgrade over current ‘Shanghai’ Opterons: a 45nm processor with 6MB of L3 cache that fits into a Socket F-style motherboards, only with six cores rather than four. As a result, the upcoming Istanbul-based Opterons will serve as drop-in upgrades for existing Socket F systems. The chips will take advantage of the same 2P, 4P, and 8P infrastructure as today’s Opterons, with HyperTransport and two channels of DDR2 memory per socket.

AMD has previously stated that Istanbul processors will become available in the second half of this year, and the firm hasn’t yet provided any more specific guidance about when to expect Istanbul-based systems. However, the presence of working silicon would seem to indicate that Istanbul Opterons could be introduced much earlier in that broad “second half” time-frame than originally anticipated.

The XtremeSystems Forums member s7e9h3n got his hands on a sample of AMD’s upcoming 12-core Magny-Cours Opteron. This chip is expected to be released in Q1 2010 but s7e9h3n (don’t try to type his name fast!) already had the opportunity to do some overclocking, he managed to raise the clockspeed of the chip from 1.7GHz to 3GHz.

The sample has 12 cores, 12 threads, a 1.7GHz clock speed, 6MB of L2 cache (512KB per core), 10MB of L3, and a 1.04V core voltage. s7e9h3n actually seems to be running two of these CPUs in a sample Socket G34 motherboard packed with 8GB of 1,333MHz DDR3 memory.

The system successfully ran wPrime as well as a memory bandwidth test, in which it reached almost 42GB/s. (Socket G34 systems are supposed to have four memory channels, so if my math is right, 42GB/s is pretty much the theoretical maximum with 1,333MHz DDR3).

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Now that AMD has rolled out their more powerful Istanbul Opterons, the company is now gearing up the the launch for their lower cost Suzuka chips.

The Suzuka Opterons are geared for single-socket systems and as such will not be using Socket F. Instead, these new processors will utilize socket AM2+/AM3, making Suzuka even more cost effective.

All of the Suzuka Opterons will feature 512KB of L2 cache per core and will have 6MB of L3 cache shared between each of the 4 cores. AMD is planning three models to start with, all which will TDP of around 115W and are 45nm parts. These will be the 1381, 1385, and 1389 which will run at 2.5GHz, 2.7GHz, and 2.9GHz respectively. The Opteron 1381 will cost $189, the 1385 will be $189, and 1389 will be $229.

HP has announced the availability of the first Istanbul powered workstations.

The xw9400 Workstation is available in single or dual chip models offering six or twelve cores of Opteron computing for whatever the needs may be. HP says that xw9400 is ready for all sorts of computing torture including 3D graphics, science, health, engineering, and more.

The rest of the xw9400 system is powered by up to 64GB of RAM, SAS or SATA drives, DVD or Blu-ray drives, and your choice of professional graphics cards in either the FirePro or Quadro variety. HP even uses 80 PLUS certified power supplies to give the new Opterons plenty of quality juice.

HP says their xw9400 worstations are available immediately and start at $1,899. You can check out the various configs on HP’s website.

“HP understands the immense pressure its customers are under to deliver more return on investment in a shorter period of time,” said Jeff Wood, director, Worldwide Marketing, Workstations, HP. “By providing the most extreme combination of technologies – up to 12 cores in one workstation – HP continues its commitment to bringing customers leading-edge technologies.”

It won’t be very long anymore before AMD’s six-core Istanbul server processors will become available in high volume, and you know what ? That’s the start of a new multi-core race. AMD unveiled it aims to release a 12-core part in 2010 already, and a model with 16 cores in 2011.

The 6000 series processors will see the 45nm 8-core to 12-core Magny-Cours next year, while the 32nm 12- to 16-core Interlagos will arrive one year later. The 4000 series platform on the other hand will see the 45nm 4- to 6-core Lisbon in 2010, and the 32nm 6- to 8-core Valencia in 2011.

Fun fact, the new DCA 2.0 architecture will allow quad-channel memory configurations as is has a four channel integrated controller.