AMD vs Intel
I was asked recently to spec out a new super server which will be deployed in a years time. Part of the analysis was to determine whether to use AMD or Intel Xeon Quad core chips. When I look at it, AMD have recently been winning the race on performance and do indeed have published results in the TPC\H benchmarks. Recent analysis between the two types of quad core chips has seen that the AMD chips do perform better than Intel, mainly due to its superior memory architecture in regards to NUMA efficiciency. However one option to consider using Intel chips may be because they perform more efficiently in terms of power consumption.
Selfishly I think it would be safer to go with the higher performing chips as energy costs are often hidden from IT budgets. However with energy costs rising daily its easy to see that in a years time, it may be feasible to justify buying more energy efficient chips and buying more of them…..