Intel Xeon W3503 vs AMD Opteron 146

Comparative analysis of Intel Xeon W3503 and AMD Opteron 146 processors for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Performance, Memory, Compatibility, Security & Reliability, Virtualization. Benchmark processor performance analysis: PassMark - Single thread mark, PassMark - CPU mark, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s).

Intel Xeon W3503

AMD Opteron 146

Differences

Reasons to consider the Intel Xeon W3503

CPU is newer: launch date 5 year(s) 5 month(s) later
1 more cores, run more applications at once: 2 vs 1
Around 20% higher clock speed: 2.4 GHz vs 2 GHz
A newer manufacturing process allows for a more powerful, yet cooler running processor: 45 nm vs 130 nm
2.6x better performance in PassMark - Single thread mark: 1025 vs 400
3.2x better performance in PassMark - CPU mark: 1118 vs 346

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	March 2009 vs September 2003
Number of cores	2 vs 1
Maximum frequency	2.4 GHz vs 2 GHz
Manufacturing process technology	45 nm vs 130 nm
Benchmarks
PassMark - Single thread mark	1025 vs 400
PassMark - CPU mark	1118 vs 346

Reasons to consider the AMD Opteron 146

2x more L2 cache, more data can be stored in the L2 cache for quick access later
Around 46% lower typical power consumption: 89 Watt vs 130 Watt

L2 cache	1024 KB vs 256 KB (per core)
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	89 Watt vs 130 Watt

Compare benchmarks

CPU 1: Intel Xeon W3503
CPU 2: AMD Opteron 146

PassMark - Single thread mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1025

400

PassMark - CPU mark

CPU 1

CPU 2

1118

346

Name	Intel Xeon W3503	AMD Opteron 146
PassMark - Single thread mark	1025	400
PassMark - CPU mark	1118	346
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	0.27
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	24.752
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	0.098
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	0.561
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	1.753

Compare specifications (specs)

	Intel Xeon W3503	AMD Opteron 146
Essentials
Architecture codename	Bloomfield	SledgeHammer
Launch date	March 2009	September 2003
Launch price (MSRP)	$65	$60
Place in performance rating	3143	3150
Price now	$16.22	$59.99
Value for money (0-100)	31.88	2.62
Vertical segment	Server	Server
Performance
64 bit support
Die size	263 mm	193 mm
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	128 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	1024 KB
L3 cache	4096 KB (shared)
Manufacturing process technology	45 nm	130 nm
Maximum frequency	2.4 GHz	2 GHz
Number of cores	2	1
Transistor count	731 million	106 million
Memory
Supported memory types	DDR3
Compatibility
Max number of CPUs in a configuration	1	1
Sockets supported	1366	940
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	130 Watt	89 Watt
Security & Reliability
Intel® Trusted Execution technology (TXT)
Virtualization
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)