NIagara's many faces, err, cores

My recent blog about Sun's the upcoming Niagara gave a brief overview about this facinating chip. According to this story at El Reg, 8-core CPUs are not the only variation Sun is planning.

Recognising that 100% yields are not going to happen, Sun is planning to ship 6-core variants of Niagara as well as 8-core ones, the former will be at a lower price point than the latter (of course). A 4-core version is also being considered.

Apparently, systems based on Niagara will have only one CPU socket; I guess we'll have to wait for Rock-based systems for multi-socket CMP machines.

Systems called the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 (1U and 2U respectively) will feature the Niagara CPUs. This nomenclature is similar to what I've seen for Sun's forthcoming Opteron-based "Galaxy" systems (aka Becky boxes, an allusion to designer and Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim).

On a more personal note, I need to replace a pair of aging Ultra 1s with a 1U or 2U server. Looks like I'll have an embarresment of riches from which to chose!