Question : AMD vs Intel? on dell's website - which has greater VM performance?

Hey guys - question:

I'm configuring a server for a client that's going to be running ESXi on it, along with two virtual machines (one of them a domain controller, the other a SQL server).

On Dell's website, i configured a tower poweredge server with 2x Xeons (didn't see an option for a tower with AMD processors), with about 8GB RAM, 2x SAS drives and 2x SATA drives (because getting 4 SAS drives was ridiculously expensive), and no operating system, for a little over $4000...

i then went to the rack mount poweredge section, and configured a server with 2x SIX-core AMD opterons, 12GB of RAM, and 4x SAS drives for about $3400......

In 'specs' the AMDs were better than the Xeons - more cores, higher clock speed, cache size, etc.  I know specs mean nothing, and that the Xeon eats the Opteron for breakfast these days, but still, why such a huge price gap?  It seems for one, that rack servers are a LOT cheaper overall than tower servers, and AMD cheaper than Intel processors.

I just want to get the right thing for this client - do you think the 2x six-core opterons would be just as good as the Xeons?  This server's primary VM is going to be its SQl server, and it's going to be doing a lot of work...

just want to get some insight :/

Answer : AMD vs Intel? on dell's website - which has greater VM performance?

The make/model of processor is such an insignificant part of the bigger picture that it doesn't matter which one you go with.  I wouldn't get hung  up on cores as much as your storage config, especially on a SQL server and domain server.

2 SAS + 2 SATA disks, to run all of that, including ESXi, and the operating systems?   You could have a thousand cores and they'll still be starved for network & disk I/O with the config you are proposing.