LOL funny how you didnt list the prices betweent the 2.
Yes, there's a difference, but with Deerfield it's not that absurd. Still different, though. An 1.8Ghz 244 Opteron will cost you something in the range of $800±50, and a 1.3Ghz Itanium will cost $1200 and will most likely be considerably faster than that Opteron in FP. Of course, a whopping $4000 for the 1.5Ghz Itanium doesn't look good at all... But the point is, Itanium in itself is a floating point king, that's all. The 1.0Ghz Itanium was already impressive in FP.
But anyway, the price of a 1.4Ghz Opteron is actually the most enticing one... I think that would be an excellent alternative, given Opteron's strengths. But if you had more money, you <i>might consider</i> Itanium now for the workstation segment, that's all.
<b><i>Update:</b> Opteron 246 is supposed to cost about $2100 (BTW, it should unofficially be launched next week!), which is exactly the price range of the new Madison 1.4Ghz, which should have considerably stronger floating point performance. So it would seem that, although Opteron is obviously the choice for lower-end servers, which should also come more in contact with 32-bit software, the Itanium is a better alternative on high-end server processors... Also remember that the 1.4Ghz Madison can be used in 4-way systems, whereas with Opteron, you'd need the more expensive 846.
More info: Opteron 844 costs $2150. That is the same figure for a 1.4Ghz Itanium, too.
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