AMD Opteron 6238 vs Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2

Comparative analysis of AMD Opteron 6238 and Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2 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 6238

Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Opteron 6238

6 more cores, run more applications at once: 12 vs 6
Around 19% higher clock speed: 3.2 GHz vs 2.70 GHz
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
Around 7% more L3 cache; more data can be stored in the L3 cache for quick access later

Number of cores	12 vs 6
Maximum frequency	3.2 GHz vs 2.70 GHz
L1 cache	576 KB vs 64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	12 MB vs 256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	16 MB vs 15360 KB (shared)

Reasons to consider the Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2

Around 8% higher maximum core temperature: 76°C vs 70.40°C
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor: 22 nm vs 32 nm
Around 44% lower typical power consumption: 80 Watt vs 115 Watt
Around 28% better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1381 vs 1076
Around 44% better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 11796 vs 8206

Specifications (specs)
Maximum core temperature	76°C vs 70.40°C
Manufacturing process technology	22 nm vs 32 nm
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	80 Watt vs 115 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1381 vs 1076
PassMark - CPU mark	11796 vs 8206

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: AMD Opteron 6238
CPU 2: Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1076

1381

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

8206

11796

Name	AMD Opteron 6238	Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2
PassMark - Single thread mark	1076	1381
PassMark - CPU mark	8206	11796
Geekbench 4 - Single Core		561
Geekbench 4 - Multi-Core		3249

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Opteron 6238	Intel Xeon E5-2420 v2
Essentials
Family	AMD Opteron
OPN Tray	OS6238WKTCGGU
Place in performance rating	1948	1944
Series	AMD Opteron 6200 Series Processor	Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v2 Family
Vertical segment	Server	Server
Architecture codename		Ivy Bridge EN
Launch date		September 2013
Launch price (MSRP)		$480
Price now		$579.95
Processor Number		E5-2420V2
Status		Launched
Value for money (0-100)		4.38
Performance
Base frequency	2.6 GHz	2.20 GHz
L1 cache	576 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	12 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	16 MB	15360 KB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology	32 nm	22 nm
Maximum core temperature	70.40°C	76°C
Maximum frequency	3.2 GHz	2.70 GHz
Number of cores	12	6
Number of threads	12	12
Unlocked
64 bit support
Bus Speed		7.2 GT/s QPI
Die size		160 mm
Number of QPI Links		1
Transistor count		1400 million
VID voltage range		0.65-1.30V
Memory
Supported memory frequency	2000 MHz
Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600
ECC memory support
Max memory channels		3
Maximum memory bandwidth		38.4 GB/s
Maximum memory size		384 GB
Compatibility
Sockets supported	G34	FCLGA1356
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	115 Watt	80 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
PCIe configurations		x4, x8, x16
Scalability		2S Only
Security & Reliability
Execute Disable Bit (EDB)
Intel® Identity Protection technology
Intel® OS Guard
Intel® Secure Key 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® TSX-NI
Intel® Turbo Boost technology
Physical Address Extensions (PAE)		46-bit
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)