Anandtech has a benchmark article on a pre-production sample of Intel’s new platform with the Dempsey dual core Xeon processor. The article carefully looks at not only server performance but performance per watt to see which platform would scale well to enterprise level needs.
More processing power has long been the focus of the processor giants, but times are changing. Performance per Watt is the focus for both AMD & Intel for the foreseeable future.
As the load on the system grew, the Bensley system used 1.7x and 1.8x more power (respective to the 50% and 100% load levels). It’s obvious that the Opteron system is more efficient at higher load levels than the Bensley, thus using less power. The Opteron’s on-die memory controller is one of the factors that would allow the Opteron to be more efficient at higher load levels.
If all you care about is performance, then Bensley is that platform. If you care about how much power you consume, then Opteron is that platform. Now, if you want the best performance per Watt, then Opteron is that platform
Read the full article here.
