The AMD Opteron 6348 was a server/workstation processor with 12 cores, launched in November 2012, at an MSRP of $575. 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 6348 CPUs can link up in a multi-processor (SMP) configuration. Opteron 6348 has 8 MB of L3 cache per die and operates at 2.8 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.4 GHz, depending on the workload. AMD is building the Opteron 6348 on a 32 nm production process 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 6348, which limits its overclocking capabilities.
With a TDP of 115 W, the Opteron 6348 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 1866 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 computer, Opteron 6348 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 6348, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.