Traditionally, servers are never upgraded in terms of components, but switched to new ones when it becomes necessary. However, current economic environment as well as necessity to boost sales of its AMD Opteron processors catalyzed Advanced Micro Devices to kick off Opteron upgrade program under which existing server customers get discounts for new processors.

The program allows upgrading servers with socket F infrastructure originally launched in 2006 and includes dual- and quad-core AMD Opteron 2000-series and processors along with the upcoming six-core processor code-named “Istanbul”. Channel partners and customers can receive up to a 35% discount in price ($50 off 2000-series, $100 off 8000-series) by upgrading the generation of their AMD Opteron processor.

Since AMD’s socket F infrastructure with DDR2 memory supports AMD’s second-generation Opteron dual-core processors, third-generation Opteron quad-core processors as well as upcoming six-core chips, upgrading such servers with new chips featuring more cores as well as higher clock-speeds should bring tangible benefits in terms of performance and power savings in environments requiring high amount of computing power. Keeping in mind that there have been loads of AMD-based servers sold throughout almost three years, the market AMD can address seems to be fairly big.

“In the current economic environment customers are trying to stretch their IT budgets and to extend the life of their technology investments more than ever, all while improving performance and energy efficiency. This program offers a unique value to our partners and customers, particularly when you consider the enhancements to the 45nm quad-core AMD Opteron processor and upcoming six-core ‘Istanbul’ processor,” said John Fruehe, a director of business development at AMD.

While swapping processors is a fairly easy task, one must remember that in order to make all the features work correctly, a new BIOS should also be flashed.

Tags: AMD, Opteron, Barcelona, Shanghai, Istanbul