AMD Opteron 6376 16 Core Server Processor Socket G34 2.3GHZ 16MB L3 Cache 115W Retail

Comment:
I purchased this AMD Opteron 6376 16-Core processor to build a software test bench workstation. I am a 3D software programmer/developer.I required a single processor system with a high core count for testing of multi-threading code and for benchmarking performance gains and overhead. Since it is a test bench system and not a production workstation, the less expensive Opteron was chosen over the 8-Core+HT E5 Xeons.The system components included: SuperMicro MBD-H8SGL-O motherboard, Opteron 6376, Noctua NH-U12DO cooler, 16GB 4x4GB Mushkin DDR3-1600, AMD FirePro W5000, Thermaltake AMD case, XFX PRO-550, DVD, WD Velociraptor, Windows 8.1 Enterprise.The processor does well at both power management and turbo speed.When idling the cores drop  to 1.4GHz, 8 cores or less will turbo to 3.2GHz, more than 8 cores will turbo to 2.6GHz.The Noctua cooler does a fantastic job at keeping the processor cool. Unfortunately it had to be mounted with the pipes horizontal due to the motherboard layout.The motherboard unfortunately runs the AMD SR5650/SP5100 chipset extremely hot, and required a small secondary fan on the undersized aluminum heatsinks.A few of the other ICs next to the DDR sockets were also hot enough to burn fingers, and required installation of some Enzotech copper sinks.The Opteron processor performs quite well with 16 cores even with its low 2.3GHz base speed, easily beating the higher-clocked QCHT i7-2600K system here by almost 40% on my software.Overall a great buy for my purposes.