AMD Opteron 4238 vs Intel Xeon E5-2603

Comparative analysis of AMD Opteron 4238 and Intel Xeon E5-2603 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 4238

Intel Xeon E5-2603

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Opteron 4238

2 more cores, run more applications at once: 6 vs 4
2 more threads: 6 vs 4
Around 106% higher clock speed: 3.7 GHz vs 1.8 GHz
Around 1% higher maximum core temperature: 70.50°C vs 70.0°C
Around 13% more L1 cache; more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
6x more L2 cache, more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later
Around 51% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1313 vs 871
Around 67% better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 7236 vs 4323

Specifications (specs)
Number of cores	6 vs 4
Number of threads	6 vs 4
Maximum frequency	3.7 GHz vs 1.8 GHz
Maximum core temperature	70.50°C vs 70.0°C
L1 cache	288 KB vs 64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	6 MB vs 256 KB (per core)
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1313 vs 871
PassMark - CPU mark	7236 vs 4323

Reasons to consider the Intel Xeon E5-2603

Around 25% more L3 cache; more data can be stored in the L3 cache for quick access later
Around 19% lower typical power consumption: 80 Watt vs 95 Watt

L3 cache	10240 KB (shared) vs 8 MB
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	80 Watt vs 95 Watt

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Opteron 4238
CPU 2: Intel Xeon E5-2603

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1313

871

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

7236

4323

Name	AMD Opteron 4238	Intel Xeon E5-2603
PassMark - Single thread mark	1313	871
PassMark - CPU mark	7236	4323
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		1771
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		5271

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Opteron 4238	Intel Xeon E5-2603
Essentials
Family	AMD Opteron
OPN Tray	OS4238WLU6KGU
Place in performance rating	1744	1632
Series	AMD Opteron 4200 Series Processor	Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family
Vertical segment	Server	Server
Architecture codename		Sandy Bridge EP
Launch date		March 2012
Launch price (MSRP)		$207
Price now		$27.84
Processor Number		E5-2603
Status		Discontinued
Value for money (0-100)		37.88
Performance
Base frequency	3.3 GHz	1.80 GHz
L1 cache	288 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	6 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB	10240 KB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm	32 nm
Maximum core temperature	70.50°C	70.0°C
Maximum frequency	3.7 GHz	1.8 GHz
Number of cores	6	4
Number of threads	6	4
Unlocked
64 bit support
Bus Speed		6.4 GT/s QPI
Die size		294 mm
Number of QPI Links		2
Transistor count		1270 million
VID voltage range		0.60V-1.35V
Memory
Supported memory frequency	2200 MHz
Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3 800/1066
ECC memory support
Max memory channels		4
Maximum memory bandwidth		34.1 GB/s
Maximum memory size		384 GB
Compatibility
Sockets supported	C32	FCLGA2011
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	95 Watt	80 Watt
Low Halogen Options Available
Max number of CPUs in a configuration		2
Package Size		52.5mm x 45.0mm
Peripherals
Max number of PCIe lanes		40
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
Intel® vPro™ Platform Eligibility
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)