AMD has plans to release a desktop version of its monolithic six-core processor Opteron "Istanbul". The new AMD processor will, code-named "Thuban", and will support Socket AM3 to ensure compatibility with existing and future desktop solutions. Thuban (Tuban) ─ Alpha Draconis, the star of the 3rd magnitude star in the constellation Draco, whose name in Arabic means "Dragon".

The new processor will be equipped with six cores, 9Mb total cache memory (6x 512Kb L2 + 6Mb L3). Processors Thuban will refer to the upper segment of the desktop processors, as well as the manufacturer prepare the model for the competition from Intel processors based on Nehalem architecture and Westmere. Thuban should be the ultimate high-performance platform AMD Leo, which will be released next year and will replace the current platform Dragon.

The platform Leo new processors will work with the chipset AMD 890FX and 890GX, chips and graphics chips SB800 series of Evergreen. In terms of software AMD will provide the latest tools Fusion and Overdrive. The chips will provide support for SB800 SATA 6Gbit / s and USB 3.0. Despite the fact that the production of Leo platform scheduled for the beginning of the second quarter of next year, six-core processor Thuban will appear later, only in the third quarter of 2010. According to the plans of the producer, processor Thuban will be released a year after the announcement of server processor Opteron "Istanbul".