The AMD Opteron 3280 was a desktop processor with 8 cores, launched in March 2012, at an MSRP of $229. It is part of the Opteron lineup, using the Zurich architecture with Socket AM3+. Opteron 3280 has 8 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.5 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.5 GHz, depending on the workload. AMD is building the Opteron 3280 on a 32 nm production process 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 3280, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 65 W, the Opteron 3280 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 system, Opteron 3280 uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. Although the processor doesn't come with integrated graphics, certain motherboards with compatible chipsets can provide this capability.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Opteron 3280, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.