Opteron vs Xeon - a good comparison
 

Read this for web and database server comparison:

http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1935

Useful.

Thanks for the heads-up :)

So, just more truth about the AMD systems destroying most Pentium classed systems? I could ahve told you that back in 2001 :p

Which is almost when that was written ;) (well okay, December 17th, 2003, still 2.5 years ago). There are much faster Xeons around now (and presumably Opterons as well ?). Again, a more recent, real life comparison would be nice.

Still, even if its dated, its true, the fastest Xeons still don't quiet catch up to their AMD counter parts.

I'm going to be switching several of our current Xeon systems to Opterons if I can find a host who supports both SCSI and the Dual Cores. Of course I haven't been looking that hard as I've been busy with projects.

There is a recent review (late 2005, I think) that put Intel's latest Xeon against Opteron again and the Opteron stomped it with no problem in almost every category.

Here are some other links to Opteron vs. Xeon reviews:

April 22, 2003 - Dual of the Titans
http://www.tomshardware.com/2003/04/...ans/index.html

March 2, 2004 - AMD Opteron vs. Intel Xeon: Database Performance Shootout
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1982

Aug. 13, 2004 - Workstation showdown: Xeon vs. Opteron
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/...station_1.html

Sept. 13, 2004 - Intel Xeon 3.6 (Nocona) vs. AMD Opteron 250 - Dbase Test
http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=2205

I'm still looking for the latest shootout I read a few months back where AMD openly (In 100's of newspapers across the USA) challenged Intel to put up or shut up. Intel finally delivered one of their new Xeons and the Opteron that was not even their latest hot thing spanked it.

With the NUMA standard and utilization of hyper-transport Intel is just out of luck and I don't forsee that changing any time soon. AMD is far ahead in chip architecture.

There have been some recent reviews of intels latest dual core engineering samples. If memory serves me correctly intel came in at a much lower clockrate than the current crop of Opteron solutions (FX-60) but in turn won the overall benchmarks comparisson between the two by a good margin.

I think they pitted the new intel (2.6ghz) against a 3Ghz dual core Opteron series processor. Although this is not a current technology comparisson it does show that intels upcoming chip solution is strong and should have no problems given AMD a good fight the money.

Nonetheless as things currently stand anyone investing in a XEON workstation or server should have there marbles checked :p

Do you have a link to one of the reviews?

Intel (and fans) likes to try and point outa couple of specific areas like video rendering in one or two programs and a few other categories where they excel; however, that really isn't relevant to web hosting as far as I know.

Ok, check these links out.. :)

Jan 1, 2006 - Dual core server duel: Xeon vs Opteron benchmark
http://sharikou.blogspot.com/2006/01...s-opteron.html

GamePC Review - Intel “Paxville” Dual Core Xeon (compares to Opteron deeper in the review)
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...axville&page=1
Performance review between Intel dual core "Paxville" vs. Opterons (ouch!)
http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_cont...axville&page=9

Here is a quote I pulled from the GamePC review that sums it up quite well...
Here is another great review re: Opteron vs. Xeon, where an old Opteron steps on a new Xeon.

http://sharikou.blogspot.com/2005/11...246-beats.html

Wow, great links, keep them coming. :)

All the info that is out there really doesn't leave a lot of room to try and compare them in a head to head heat. I would love to see a shootout between the AMD's latest Opterons against anything Intel can put up against it. I think the results would be highly embarrassing to Intel and that is probably why they won't go head to head officially. If the 246 single core vs. Xeon dual core was bad, this would be shameful.