AMD Opteron 8218 HE

The AMD Opteron 8218 HE is a dual-core, dual-thread server/workstation processor from the Opteron Santa Rosa generation, built on the K8 architecture at 90 nm. It runs at a 2.60 GHz base clock with no boost clock listed and a TDP of 68. Each core has 128 KB of L1 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache; there is no L3 cache. The part uses AMD Socket F, supports dual-channel DDR2 memory with 10.7 GB/s bandwidth and ECC, and lists PCIe Gen 1 support. It contains 227 million transistors on a 235 mm² die, was released on February 6, 2007, and had a launch MSRP of $1340. Its production status is end-of-life.

FAQ

Q: How many cores and threads does the Opteron 8218 HE have?

A: It has 2 cores and 2 threads, so there are no extra logical threads beyond the two physical cores.

Q: What is the cache layout?

A: Each core has 128 KB of L1 cache and 1 MB of L2 cache. No L3 cache is listed, meaning the two cores have no shared last-level cache.

Q: What memory support is included?

A: It supports DDR2 memory in a dual-channel configuration, with 10.7 GB/s of memory bandwidth and ECC memory support.

Q: What socket and market segment are specified?

A: It uses AMD Socket F and is classified as a server/workstation processor.

Q: What is the process and die information?

A: The processor is built on a 90 nm process, with 227 million transistors on a 235 mm² die.

Q: Is the multiplier unlocked and are there benchmark results?

A: The multiplier is locked. The benchmark list is empty and the average benchmark score is 0, although the percentile vs all CPUs is 50.

Who Should Consider It

Office workloads that use one or two active threads map naturally onto this processor. The fixed 2.60 GHz base clock means each core runs at the same listed frequency, and the per-core 128 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 caches provide local storage for each thread. For creation workloads, the picture is tighter: with only 2 threads total, any content creation job that scales beyond two threads cannot use additional cores on this CPU. The absence of integrated graphics also means a separate graphics device is needed for any visual output. For gaming, that same lack of integrated graphics, combined with the server/workstation market segment and the dual-thread limit, makes the processor a poor fit.

The dual-channel DDR2 memory system provides 10.7 GB/s of bandwidth, and ECC support points to reliability-sensitive server roles. The 50th percentile vs all CPUs and the empty benchmark list suggest the part should be chosen for its feature set rather than for measured multi-thread performance. The socket and platform details are fixed as AMD Socket F and PCIe Gen 1, so system expansion is tied to that generation of connectivity.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmarks array in the fact pack has no entries, and the average benchmark score is 0. The only performance-ranked value is the percentile vs all CPUs, which is 50. That places the processor at the midpoint of the database's CPU ranking, but because there are no measured scores, the percentile cannot be tied to any actual dataset.

The nearestRivals list is empty, so there are no rival names, no rival scores, and no deltaPct values to report. As a result, the benchmark section is limited to structural analysis. The processor has 2 K8 cores at 2.60 GHz, 128 KB L1 per core, 1 MB L2 per core, no L3, and a dual-channel DDR2 memory interface with 10.7 GB/s. These numbers describe a dual-core server/workstation part whose multi-thread scaling ceiling is two concurrent threads.

In the absence of benchmark entries, performance comparisons to other processors cannot be made from this data. The 50th percentile is a positional marker, but it is the only marker available. The average benchmark score of 0 should not be read as a measured performance result; it is the value present in the database entry alongside an empty benchmark array.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals field is empty for the AMD Opteron 8218 HE. There are no adjacent processors listed, so the database supplies no direct comparison against any specific rival.

The only positional data in the fact pack is the 50th percentile vs all CPUs, which indicates the part sits in the middle of the full CPU distribution in this database. Without nearest-rival entries, any claim that the 8218 HE beats or loses to a particular processor would be unsupported. As a result, no per-rival paragraphs can be formed; the empty rival list is itself the relevant finding.

Single-Thread vs Multi-Thread Behavior

The core and thread counts are the defining variables. With exactly 2 cores and 2 threads, the processor can execute two threads at the same time, and no additional logical threads are available.

A single-threaded workload runs on one K8 core at 2.60 GHz with private 128 KB L1 and 1 MB L2 caches. A two-thread workload uses both cores, but those cores share the dual-channel DDR2 memory path, which is listed at 10.7 GB/s. There is no boost clock, so there is no higher frequency state available for single-thread bursts; 2.60 GHz is the listed base clock and the only clock value in the fact pack.

There is no L3 cache, so the two cores do not share a large last-level cache; each core's cache is per-core. This arrangement keeps per-core data in per-core cache rather than in shared cache. It also benefits single-threaded code that does not need to compete for cache space. Heavily multi-threaded code, by contrast, will hit the two-thread limit and cannot spread beyond the available logical threads. ECC memory support adds reliability, but it does not change the single-thread vs multi-thread split: the part is a dual-thread ceiling with a fixed 2.60 GHz frequency.