Sunnyvale (CA) – AMD said that it has successfully demonstrated its first six-core processor code-named Istanbul. The processor is still on schedule to debut in the second half of this year.

AMD can’t claim that Istanbul is the first six-core processor available and it is, in fact, quite a bit behind Intel, which unveiled its six-core Dunnington processor back in September of 2008. However, AMD can claim that, when the chip debuts, it may be the first monolithic six-core processor that will be available for dual- and quad-socket server configurations. Intel’s Dunnington (Xeon 74xx) series is targeted at MP server systems with more than two sockets.

“Thus far we see impressive performance and performance-per-watt results in our initial ‘Istanbul’ testing. We expect global OEMs and solution providers to begin shipping systems based on ’Istanbul’ in the second half of this year,” said John Fruehe, director of business development, Server Workstation, AMD.

At least for now, AMD’s edge may also be in power consumption. The monolithic design is generally expected to result in a power consumption that is comparable to the range of its quad-core Opterons with the 45 nm Shanghai core and consume 75 watts on the low end and 105 watts on the high end.

Intel’s six-core Dunnington processor is available in a low-power version (2.13 GHz) that is rated at a thermal design power (TDP) of 65 watts and a max power of 85 watts. The two high-performance Dunningtons (2.4 and 2.66 GHz) are listed with a TDP of 90 and 130 watts and a max power of 125 and 170 watts.