Well maybe they should update their UK website so you can select a Quad Core Opteron as an option

*** networking ***

in network performance tests, opterons have been shown to outperform core and xeon systems by a large margin.

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.security.firewalls.pfsense.user/2738/match=opteron+xeon

*** power ***

although at peak, opterons use more power than intel's, at idle they are more efficient, and a single-core opteron *might* be better for your application.

** performance ***

it's also been found that a core2quad can sometimes be slower than a core2duo because of the contention on the front-side bus, so again, if your application is CPU bound with a single thread, you need to consider that an intel might not be ideal!

I remember the days when the AMD K6 whooped Intel and cost a mere fraction of the price. What happened to those heady days of speed and cost saving? :(

"Hmm, new teeth. Where were we? Oh that's right. Barcelona!"