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X86 microprocessors
- Xeon (/ ˈziːɒn /; ZEE-on) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded markets. It was introduced in June 1998.
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Xeon (/ ˈziːɒn /; ZEE-on) is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server, and embedded markets. It was introduced in June 1998.
1 day ago · Find the latest list of Intel® Xeon® processors, plus specifications, benchmarks, features, Intel® technology, reviews, pricing, and where to buy.
Intel® Xeon® Processors product listing with links to detailed product features and specifications.
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By Josh Covington
last updated 3 March 2022
Workstation workloads require powerful processors but which one to choose from the blue team?
(Image credit: Intel)
Since the launch of the Xeon brand in the late 1990’s, Intel has touted that family of processors as the optimal choice for most professional applications, be it in mobile workstations, in traditional workstation PCs or video editing PCs.
Overclocking – Unlocked i5, i7, and i9 processors are designed to be overclocked, meaning they can run at higher clock speeds than what they’re qualified for, assuming the right voltage and BIOS settings (and cooling and paste). This equates to free power and more value, a feature that Xeons do not have and can thus translate to faster professional renders in many cases, especially where frequency is a key spec.
GHz per dollar – For pure Gigahertz speed for the money, the LGA2011 (X299) and 1200 (Z590) Core models come out on top every time, making them the best value for single threaded and lightly threaded applications. For example, an 8-core i7-11700k which runs at 3.6/5.0GHz retails for around $400. The comparable Xeon running at that clock speed will cost about $100 more. For pro users with single threaded or lightly threaded software, this increases value tremendously.
What about Pentium?
Those who might be tempted to buy a Pentium processor because of perceived savings should reconsider their decisions. The most powerful Pentium CPU released to date, the G6605, is still far, far slower than any 10th generation Intel Core i3 processors which, by default, come with four cores and eight threads (as opposed to four threads and two cores for the Pentium model).
L3 cache – CPU caches are like small batches of memory that the processor keeps close by to speed up certain applications. Most Xeon processors have 15-30MB and as much as 50MB+ of L3 cache depending on the model, close to double their i7 counterparts. This extra cache is one reason why Xeons are often so much faster at high demand professional applications than Core.
Support for ECC RAM – Error Checking and Correction (ECC) RAM detects and corrects most common data corruption before it occurs, eliminating the cause of many system crashes and translating to more stable overall performance. Only Xeon processors fully support ECC RAM. To me, this is the single most important feature that Xeon offers over Core since ECC is especially important with higher RAM densities and with higher demand use cases where RAM failures are both more common and more devastating when they do occur. How this changes in the future with the release of DDR5’s standard on die ECC remains to be seen, but early reports are that Xeon will still be required for full ECC DDR5 support.
RAM Density – For professionals working in applications that require very large quantities of Memory, Xeon may be not only the best, but the only option. Intel Core currently maxes out at 256GB of 8-channel DDR4 but Scalable Xeon and the new Xeon W-3300 support up to 4TB (that is, assuming you can find 256GB modules to fill all 16 DIMMs) making them ideal as web hosting servers.
More cores, multi-CPU options – For heavily threaded applications that will benefit from as many CPU cores as possible (think Machine Learning or Computational Fluid Dynamics among others), Xeon is what you need. For example, the latest Xeon Scalable processors max out at 40 cores/80 threads – and as the name suggests, can be scaled to multiple sockets. In contrast, even the i9-10980XE, the most heavily threaded Core processor currently, has just 18 cores.
So, which is best for you? That answer depends on what specific professional applications you’ll be using your new PC for and the price point at which you feel most comfortable. If your workflow consists of 4K video, 3D rendering, or VFX in applications like AVID, Premiere Pro, Blender, Ansys, or Houdini where the benefits of ECC RAM, more cache, and possible dual CPUs with a multitude of cores are advantageous, I heartily recommend Xeon.
It’s really the only choice at that tier, and will reap rewards in the way of reduced render times and overall productivity. But, if your usage is more mainstream to moderate or you primarily use more single threaded applications like Revit or AutoCAD, Intel Core offers much better value and may even perform better in those specific cases. The key is to know what you do, what you need, and to not let yourself be oversold on hardware that won’t make you more productive.
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- Josh Covington
CPU Specifications. Total Cores 36. Total Threads 72. Max Turbo Frequency 3.50 GHz. ClockSpeed 2.40 GHz. Cache 54 MB. Intel® UPI Speed 11.2 GT/s. Max # of UPI Links 3. TDP 250 W.
5 days ago · The new flagship Xeon 6 data center processors come with new CPU core microarchitectures, the Intel 3 process node, and up to 504MB of L3 cache, along with support for 12 memory channels and ...
The Intel® Xeon® Gold processors, improved 4 socket performance, advanced reliability, hardware-enhanced security for cloud, network workloads. Compare products for Intel® Xeon® Gold processors including specs, features, reviews, and where to buy.
