Dual CPU Shootout: Opteron versus Xeon

**MIG-31** · Dec 5, 2003, 06:26 PM

Professional workstations have traditionally been driven by their applications -- architectural and mechanical CAD, 3D content creation, EDA (electronic design) and digital video editing. Most of these applications are properly multithreaded, which means they should take good advantage of systems with more than a single CPU.

Unlike most desktop systems, workstations tend to be bought to run a single application. That does make having a "generic" workstation configuration somewhat challenging, but the advent of modern graphics hardware with robust OpenGL drivers has helped quite a bit. For many years, most workstations ran some flavor of the Unix operating system. Since a particular workstation was purchased mainly to run a single app, issues of application compatibility weren't as relevant. You'd buy the app, then find a good workstation to run it.

In the past decade, Windows 2000 and Windows XP (professional versions) have seen a growth spurt in workstation application ports, resulting in a market shift. Windows based workstations are more "generic." They're still typically bought for a single purpose but most now come with components that resemble commodities.

This allowed us to build a pair of "generic" workstations using workstation-class graphics hardware and high performance DDR memory. Because we used ATX-style motherboards, we didn't need to use large WTX cases, but we did need to upgrade our power supplies. Let's look at our systems configurations.

News Source : Extremetech

nForcer · Dec 5, 2003, 09:48 PM

I don't care what they say - Xeon's are killer processors.

...oh wait, thats what they said as well. Sounds good to me!

The_Neon_Cowboy · Dec 5, 2003, 10:49 PM

the amd still whoops it

nForcer · Dec 6, 2003, 02:10 AM

Not really.

Necrosis · Dec 6, 2003, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nForcer
Not really.

Ha Ha

EcPercy · Dec 8, 2003, 02:17 PM

heh not really ... i would say that AMD is presenting a real problem for intel.. seeing how those cpu's in the test are only 2.2Ghz on the Opteron and the Xeon's are 3.06Ghz... that is a big difference in clock speed..... think when p4 and opteron operate at the same clock speed... there would be no comparison

i guess its just tough to admit that the competition... the one that was once known as the underdog is now making a real difference.....

Dec 5, 2003, 06:26 PM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 55,777 Rep Power: 444 System Specs	Dual CPU Shootout: Opteron versus Xeon Professional workstations have traditionally been driven by their applications -- architectural and mechanical CAD, 3D content creation, EDA (electronic design) and digital video editing. Most of these applications are properly multithreaded, which means they should take good advantage of systems with more than a single CPU. Unlike most desktop systems, workstations tend to be bought to run a single application. That does make having a "generic" workstation configuration somewhat challenging, but the advent of modern graphics hardware with robust OpenGL drivers has helped quite a bit. For many years, most workstations ran some flavor of the Unix operating system. Since a particular workstation was purchased mainly to run a single app, issues of application compatibility weren't as relevant. You'd buy the app, then find a good workstation to run it. In the past decade, Windows 2000 and Windows XP (professional versions) have seen a growth spurt in workstation application ports, resulting in a market shift. Windows based workstations are more "generic." They're still typically bought for a single purpose but most now come with components that resemble commodities. This allowed us to build a pair of "generic" workstations using workstation-class graphics hardware and high performance DDR memory. Because we used ATX-style motherboards, we didn't need to use large WTX cases, but we did need to upgrade our power supplies. Let's look at our systems configurations. News Source : Extremetech __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Dec 5, 2003, 10:49 PM	#3
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	the amd still whoops it __________________

Dec 5, 2003, 09:48 PM	#2
nForcer Twice the fun! Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,404 Rep Power: 0	I don't care what they say - Xeon's are killer processors. ...oh wait, thats what they said as well. Sounds good to me!

Dec 6, 2003, 02:10 AM	#4
nForcer Twice the fun! Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,404 Rep Power: 0	Not really.

Dec 8, 2003, 02:17 PM	#6
EcPercy HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Iraq Posts: 1,535 Rep Power: 64	heh not really ... i would say that AMD is presenting a real problem for intel.. seeing how those cpu's in the test are only 2.2Ghz on the Opteron and the Xeon's are 3.06Ghz... that is a big difference in clock speed..... think when p4 and opteron operate at the same clock speed... there would be no comparison i guess its just tough to admit that the competition... the one that was once known as the underdog is now making a real difference.....