AMD Opteron 4386 vs Intel Xeon X5550

Comparative analysis of AMD Opteron 4386 and Intel Xeon X5550 processors for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Performance, Memory, Compatibility, Advanced Technologies, Virtualization, Security & Reliability. Benchmark processor performance analysis: PassMark - Single thread mark, PassMark - CPU mark, Geekbench 4 - Single Core, Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s).

AMD Opteron 4386

Intel Xeon X5550

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Opteron 4386

4 more cores, run more applications at once: 8 vs 4
Around 24% higher clock speed: 3.8 GHz vs 3.06 GHz
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor: 32 nm vs 45 nm
Around 50% more L1 cache; more data can be stored in the L1 cache for quick access later
8x more L2 cache, more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later

Number of cores	8 vs 4
Maximum frequency	3.8 GHz vs 3.06 GHz
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm vs 45 nm
L1 cache	384 KB vs 64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	8 MB vs 256 KB (per core)

Reasons to consider the Intel Xeon X5550

Around 6% higher maximum core temperature: 75°C vs 70.50°C
2.7x better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1313 vs 494
Around 4% better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 5621 vs 5419

Specifications (specs)
Maximum core temperature	75°C vs 70.50°C
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1313 vs 494
PassMark - CPU mark	5621 vs 5419

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Opteron 4386
CPU 2: Intel Xeon X5550

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

494

1313

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

5419

5621

Name	AMD Opteron 4386	Intel Xeon X5550
PassMark - Single thread mark	494	1313
PassMark - CPU mark	5419	5621
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		491
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		2241
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)		1.775
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)		71.663
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)		2.861
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)		8.548
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)		0.531

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Opteron 4386	Intel Xeon X5550
Essentials
Architecture codename	Seoul	Nehalem EP
Family	AMD Opteron
Launch date	n/d	March 2009
OPN Tray	OS4386WLU8KHK
Place in performance rating	2775	2539
Series	AMD Opteron 4300 Series Processor	Legacy Intel® Xeon® Processors
Vertical segment	Server	Server
Launch price (MSRP)		$62
Price now		$17.27
Processor Number		X5550
Status		Launched
Value for money (0-100)		92.15
Performance
64 bit support
Base frequency	3.1 GHz	2.66 GHz
Die size	315 mm	263 mm2
L1 cache	384 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	8 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB	8192 KB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm	45 nm
Maximum core temperature	70.50°C	75°C
Maximum frequency	3.8 GHz	3.06 GHz
Number of cores	8	4
Number of threads	8	8
Transistor count	1200 million	731 million
Unlocked
Bus Speed		6.4 GT/s QPI
Number of QPI Links		2
VID voltage range		0.75V -1.35V
Memory
Supported memory frequency	2200 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		144 GB
Compatibility
Max number of CPUs in a configuration	2	2
Sockets supported	C32	FCLGA1366
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	95 Watt	95 Watt
Low Halogen Options Available
Package Size		42.5mm x 45mm
Advanced Technologies
Fused Multiply-Add (FMA)
Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
Intel® AES New Instructions
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® technology
Idle States
Intel 64
Intel® Demand Based Switching
Intel® Hyper-Threading technology
Intel® Turbo Boost technology
Physical Address Extensions (PAE)		40-bit
Virtualization
AMD Virtualization (AMD-V™)
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)
Security & Reliability
Execute Disable Bit (EDB)
Intel® Trusted Execution technology (TXT)