AMD Opteron 3260 HE vs Intel Xeon E5-2420

Comparative analysis of AMD Opteron 3260 HE and Intel Xeon E5-2420 processors for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Performance, Memory, Compatibility, Peripherals, Security & Reliability, Advanced Technologies, Virtualization. Benchmark processor performance analysis: PassMark - Single thread mark, PassMark - CPU mark, Geekbench 4 - Single Core, Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core.

AMD Opteron 3260 HE

Intel Xeon E5-2420

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Opteron 3260 HE

Around 54% higher clock speed: 3.7 GHz vs 2.40 GHz
2.7x more L2 cache, more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later
2.1x lower typical power consumption: 45 Watt vs 95 Watt

Maximum frequency	3.7 GHz vs 2.40 GHz
L2 cache	4 MB vs 256 KB (per core)
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	45 Watt vs 95 Watt

Reasons to consider the Intel Xeon E5-2420

2 more cores, run more applications at once: 6 vs 4
8 more threads: 12 vs 4
2x more L1 cache, more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
3.8x more L3 cache, more data can be stored in the L3 cache for quick access later
Around 23% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1108 vs 900
Around 34% better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 3065 vs 2283

Specifications (specs)
Number of cores	6 vs 4
Number of threads	12 vs 4
L1 cache	64 KB (per core) vs 192 KB
L3 cache	15360 KB (shared) vs 4 MB
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1108 vs 900
PassMark - CPU mark	3065 vs 2283

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Opteron 3260 HE
CPU 2: Intel Xeon E5-2420

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

900

1108

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

2283

3065

Name	AMD Opteron 3260 HE	Intel Xeon E5-2420
PassMark - Single thread mark	900	1108
PassMark - CPU mark	2283	3065
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		454
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		2647

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Opteron 3260 HE	Intel Xeon E5-2420
Essentials
Family	AMD Opteron
OPN PIB	OS3260HOW4MGUBOX
OPN Tray	OS3260HOW4MGU
Place in performance rating	2352	2343
Series	AMD Opteron 3200 Series Processor	Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family
Vertical segment	Server	Server
Architecture codename		Sandy Bridge EN
Launch date		May 2012
Launch price (MSRP)		$390
Price now		$390.02
Processor Number		E5-2420
Status		Discontinued
Value for money (0-100)		5.32
Performance
Base frequency	2.7 GHz	1.90 GHz
L1 cache	192 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	4 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	4 MB	15360 KB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm	32 nm
Maximum core temperature	61.10°C
Maximum frequency	3.7 GHz	2.40 GHz
Number of cores	4	6
Number of threads	4	12
Unlocked
64 bit support
Bus Speed		7.2 GT/s QPI
Die size		294 mm
Number of QPI Links		1
Transistor count		1270 million
VID voltage range		0.6V-1.35V
Memory
Supported memory frequency	2000 MHz
Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3 800/1066/1333
ECC memory support
Max memory channels		3
Maximum memory bandwidth		32 GB/s
Maximum memory size		384 GB
Compatibility
Sockets supported	AM3+	FCLGA1356
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	45 Watt	95 Watt
Low Halogen Options Available
Max number of CPUs in a configuration		2
Package Size		45mm x 42.5mm
Peripherals
Max number of PCIe lanes		24
PCI Express revision		3.0
Scalability		2S Only
Security & Reliability
Execute Disable Bit (EDB)
Intel® Identity Protection technology
Intel® Trusted Execution technology (TXT)
Advanced Technologies
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology
Idle States
Instruction set extensions		Intel® AVX
Intel 64
Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
Intel® AES New Instructions
Intel® Demand Based Switching
Intel® Flex Memory Access
Intel® Hyper-Threading technology
Intel® Turbo Boost technology
Thermal Monitoring
Virtualization
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)