Two servers with identical benchmark performance can end up with wildly different total costs once software licensing is factored in — and the reason is almost always core count versus socket count, not the hardware price itself. Understanding this before you buy avoids an expensive surprise later.
Some enterprise software (older SQL Server editions, some virtualization platforms in certain tiers) licenses by physical CPU socket, regardless of how many cores are in each processor. Under this model, a dual-socket server with two 8-core CPUs and a dual-socket server with two 28-core CPUs cost the same to license — so it makes sense to buy the highest core-count CPU your budget allows, since the licensing cost doesn't scale with it.
Most modern enterprise software (current SQL Server editions, many virtualization and database platforms) licenses per physical core, usually with a minimum core count per socket. Under this model, more cores directly means more license cost — so over-buying core count on a server that's mostly idle is a real waste of money, and right-sizing core count to actual workload matters as much as sizing RAM or storage.
Our sales team can walk through core-count and socket-layout tradeoffs against your actual software stack before you commit — browse current tested stock or call for guidance.