Shutting a server down can be enough of a chore as those you work with scream and bellow that they cannot access network resources, even after a week of constant reminders to them that there will be maintenance happening at a specific time.  Upgrading or reinstalling an OS and putting data back can ruin an entire weekend.  AMD is attempting to make it possible to do a simple upgrade, theoretically going from a Shanghai core CPU to a 6-core Instanbul should be a quick and easy upgrade.  Just shut down your server, remove the cooling, swap CPUs and put the heatsink(s) back on and boot right up.  See if it worked when ExtremeTech tried it.

“That situation drove AMD to ask a simple question: “What if you could just increase performance with a CPU change?” AMD’s answer comes in the form of a Six Core Opteron processor, code-named Istanbul. While both Intel and AMD have offered the ability to upgrade CPUs in the past, other hardware was usually required to gain any significant performance improvement, sometimes necessitating a cooling fan or power supply upgrade as well. ”

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