The AMD Opteron 6386 SE was a server/workstation processor with 16 cores, launched in November 2012, at an MSRP of $1392. It is part of the Opteron lineup, using the Abu Dhabi architecture with Socket G34. To further increase overall system performance, up to four Opteron 6386 SE CPUs can work together in a multi-processor (SMP) configuration. Opteron 6386 SE has 8 MB of L3 cache per die and operates at 2.8 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.5 GHz, depending on the workload. AMD is making the Opteron 6386 SE on a 32 nm production node using 2,400 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 6386 SE, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 140 W, the Opteron 6386 SE consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. AMD's processor supports DDR3 memory with a quad-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1600 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. ECC memory is supported, too, which is an important capability for mission-critical systems, to avoid data corruption. For communication with other components in the machine, Opteron 6386 SE uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. This processor lacks integrated graphics, you might need a graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Opteron 6386 SE, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.