Quote Originally Posted by Fursphere View Post
I would like to see benchmarks against the 6 core Xeons though.
And AnandTech is ready to provide
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2978/a...-6-core-xeon/1

Now they only tested server workloads, but the end result seems to be the same. If you are running one or more apps which will actually use more than 6 cores then the AMD is your guy. But if you can't have enough threads running to reach out beyond 8 cores, then you are better off with the higher clock speed Xeons. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather have more hardware cores.

Also, the review turned me on to a much cheaper alternative with this new AMD line -- The AMD Opteron 6128 8-core CPU @ 2.0 GHz can be purchased for around $300. Then get the SuperMicro H8SGL motherboard for also around $300. The only question to be answered is how well a high-end video card will perform when the slot is only wired for PCIe x8

The 8-core uses the same G34 socket as the 12-core, and AMD is planning to use the same socket with their offerings in 2011 so an upgrade path should exist for awhile.

I need to take a long, hard look at this. My existing Core 2 Quad is being taxed lately trying to 5-box, and I'd love to be able to stretch into 8 or more cores...