AMD Opteron 8347
As you read in part 1, we are building an AMD 16 core workstation, so we need to find four Opteron quad core processors.
Our Tyan S4980 motherboard only supports AMD “Barcelona” Opterons. Barcelona’s have two main product lines: the 23XX and 83XX. We want to avoid the 23XX for this build, because those quad core CPUs only support two in a single motherboard. Nice little hitch to avoid.
Note: AMD is now shipping “Shanghai” Opterons. These processors are faster, better (more expensive) and they don’t work in the Tyan S4980 motherboard we are using. Unfortunately, the Shanghai Opterons have the same 23XX and 83XX numbering scheme, so one more little caveat to be aware of.
8347 (1.9Ghz), 8350 (2 Ghz), 8354 (2.2 Ghz) , 8356 (2.4 Ghz) , 8358 (2.5 Ghz) , 8360 (2.6 Ghz).
There are also two high efficiency versions (these use 55W instead of 75W) of these chips which work just fine: 8346 HE (1.8 Ghz) and the 8347 HE (1.9 Ghz) . I used four 8347 HE in my build.
The least expensive Quad core opteron on New Egg is the 8346 HE. it runs $549 for the OEM packaging, which does NOT include any cooling.
Another option is to shop eBay for these cpu’s, you can find them for much less, but make sure to buy the right part numbers.
Oh before I forget..One last detail, make sure to use four identical CPUs. I don’t know if you can mix 8347 and 8347HE on the same motherboard. Good Luck!
