The
3.2GHz Opteron 2224 is quite interesting, as it is priced at $873. This is
the same price point as the dual core Intel Xeon 5160 at 3GHz and the quad core
Intel Xeon 5355. The contrast with the desktop market is sharp: not one AMD
desktop CPU can be found in the higher price ranges. So how does AMD's newest
offering compare to the two Intel CPUs?
AnandTech was able to put together a review with benchmarks comparing the
new Opteron 2224 SE and 8224 SE chips are clocked at 3.2GHz to the latest and
greatest server offerings from Intel. Compared to dual 3GHz Xeon 5160 chips,
dual 3.2GHz Opterons seem to be slower in SPECjbb2005, MySQL, and 3ds max 9 but
faster in Cinebench and WinRAR. However, things get a lot less rosy for AMD once
you swap dual-core Xeons for quad-core ones, and they're bound to get even worse
once Intel releases four-way-capable quad-core Xeons later this quarter. Luckily
for AMD, four-way-capable quad-core "Barcelona" Opterons are scheduled for next
month.
