Server CPUs overview

As the CPU is still one of the most important cost factors in a server, we want to give an overview of the currently available server CPUs. We'll start with the Intel CPUs.
The biggest advantage of Intel's newest Bensley platform is the longevity: the Dempsey, Woodcrest, and quad core Clovertown Xeon all use the same socket and "Bensley" platform. Even the successor of Clovertown, the 45nm Harpertown, is confirmed to be compatible with the Bensley platform.

Intel Xeon Overview
Intel CPU Clock Codename L2 L3 FSB Mem bandwidth TDP In test? Price
Xeon MP 7140M 3.4GHz Tulsa 2x1MB 16MB 200 MHz Quad 6.4 GB/s 150W No $1,980
Xeon MP 7130M 3.2GHz Tulsa 2x1MB 8MB 200 MHz Quad 6.4 GB/s 150W yes $1,391
Xeon MP 7120M 3GHz Tulsa 2x1MB 4MB 200 MHz Quad 6.4 GB/s 95W No $1,117
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Xeon DP 5160 3GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 333 MHz Quad 21 GB/s 80W Yes $851
Xeon DP 5150 2.66GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 333 MHz Quad 21 GB/s 65W No $690
Xeon DP 5148 2.33GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 333 MHz Quad 21 GB/s 40W No $519
Xeon DP 5140 2.33GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 333 MHz Quad 21 GB/s 65W No $455
Xeon DP 5130 2GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 333 MHz Quad 21 GB/s 65W No $316
Xeon DP 5120 1.86GHz Woodcrest 4MB - 266 MHz Quad 17 GB/s 65W No $256
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Xeon DP 5080 3.73GHz Dempsey 2x2MB - 266 MHz Quad 8.5 GB/s 130W No $851
Xeon DP 5063 3.2GHz Dempsey 2x2MB - 266 MHz Quad 8.5 GB/s 95W No $369
Xeon DP 5060 3.2GHz Dempsey 2x2MB - 266 MHz Quad 8.5 GB/s 130W No $316

The Opteron CPU comes in two forms: one for DDR and one for DDR-2. The DDR-2 version uses 4 model numbers, the DDR version three.

AMD Opteron Overview
AMD CPU Clock Codename L2 L3 HT Mem bandwidth TDP In test? Price
Opteron 8220 SE 2.8GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 119W No $2,149
Opteron 8218 2.6GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $1,514
Opteron 8216 2.4GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $1,165
Opteron 8214 2.2GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $873
Opteron 8216 HE 2.4GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 68W No $1,340
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Opteron 885 2.6GHz Egypt 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W No $1,514
Opteron 880 2.4GHz Egypt 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W yes $1,165
Opteron 875 2.2GHz Egypt 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W No $873
Opteron 875 HE 2.2GHz Egypt 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 55W No $1,514
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Opteron 2220 SE 2.8GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $786
Opteron 2216 2.6GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $611
Opteron 2214 2.4GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $450
Opteron 2214 2.2GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 95W No $377
Opteron 2216HE 2.4GHz Santa Rosa 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 8.5 GB/s 68W No $531
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Opteron 285 2.6GHz Italy 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W No $611
Opteron 280 2.4GHz Italy 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W No $450
Opteron 275 2.2GHz Italy 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 95W No $377
Opteron 275 HE 2.2GHz Italy 2x1MB - 1000 MHz DDR 6.4 GB/s 55W yes $611

The Opteron's TDP numbers are the maximum power consumption numbers, while Intel's numbers are "thermal solution design targets". In practice, this means that you should subtract about 5% from AMD's TDP numbers to compare the two brands. AMD is not doing too well in the dual CPU arena: it needs about 30W more power per dual core CPU and CPU clock speed has hardly increased the past two years. Luckily for AMD, the power disadvantage is negated by the use of FB-DIMMs instead of DDR2 on the Intel platform.

Intel SR6850HW4 Server Thanks and Server Configurations
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