typically a server with 16Gb of RAM is powered by quad-processors intel xeon quad cores, or the equivalent AMDs.
That's a bad idea; you should probably run away from any host that wants to sell you such an inefficient configuration. 16GB is 8 2GB DIMMs; putting that in a 2-socket server is no problem. Even 16 2GB DIMMs should be no problem.
well yes, and no. i guess it depends on your needs and the applications you run on the server. if you do virtualization, a 2 socket server should be ok. I was thinking of HPC or datamining
That's a bad idea; you should probably run away from any host that wants to sell you such an inefficient configuration. 16GB is 8 2GB DIMMs; putting that in a 2-socket server is no problem. Even 16 2GB DIMMs should be no problem.