Not sure if that is still true.
If you are doing large database transactions; with fair bits of OLP or in-memory processing desirable *and* your query load is intense enough to be well in the double digit GB/Second range - then modern architectures, like the M7, provide you with a lot of bang for your buck. Investment not dissimilar; but lower power; higher peaks and less expensive inter-machine due to less kit.
And if you look at the TCO over 3 to 7 years - assuming a tyipical 2-3 hours/24hours at those type of intense loads - you are easily talking half to a quarter of the cost.
If you are doing that sort of analytic queries f24x7 - then the 4x difference in queries throughput mean that the difference gets even more extreme; half the kit and 20% of the power consumption.
* i.e. the linux equivalent of a 2x18+ core E5/2699 and 1/2 of a Tb of ram.