The AMD Opteron 3260 HE was a server/workstation processor with 4 cores, launched in March 2012, at an MSRP of $125. It is part of the Opteron lineup, using the Zurich architecture with Socket AM3+. Opteron 3260 HE has 4 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.7 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.7 GHz, depending on the workload. AMD is making the Opteron 3260 HE on a 32 nm production node using 1,200 million transistors. The silicon die of the chip is not fabricated at AMD, but at the foundry of GlobalFoundries. The multiplier is locked on Opteron 3260 HE, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 45 W, the Opteron 3260 HE consumes typical power levels for a modern PC. AMD's processor supports DDR3 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1866 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the computer, Opteron 3260 HE uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. Although neither the processor nor its chipsets support integrated graphics, certain motherboards include dedicated graphics chipset that can provide some basic display output functionality.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Opteron 3260 HE, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.