Introducing Intel Xeon CPU

By shahab sharifi
Intel Xeon microprocessors
 
Xeon /ˈziːɒn/ :

• Is a brand of x86 microprocessors designed, manufactured, and

marketed by Intel, targeted at the non-consumer workstation, server,
and embedded system markets. It was introduced in June 1998.
Intel Xeon microprocessors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon

https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Xeon_microprocessors#Nehalem-bas
ed_Xeons
Intel Xeon microprocessors

Advantages of Xeon CPUs over normal ones include some advanced

features such as support for:
•  ECC memory
• higher core counts
• support for larger amounts of RAM
• and larger cache memory
• Some also support multi-socket systems with 2, 4, or 8 sockets.
Intel Xeon microprocessors

Disadvantages that make Xeon processors unsuitable for most consumer-

grade desktop PCs include:
• lower clock rates at the same price point (since servers run more tasks
in parallel than desktops, so core counts become more important than
clock rates)
• Usually an absence of an integrated GPU
• Lack of support for overclocking. 
Intel Xeon CPU Server Generations
Intel Xeon CPU
Recent Server Families + Benchmark
https://www.nextplatform.com/2016/04/04/xeon-bang-buck-
nehalem-broadwell/

The interplay of
• clocks,
• cores,
• cache
• IPC = (Instructions Per Clock)
are what drive performance gains with each Xeon family
How has the value proposition of the Xeon
processors changed over time?
The overall Performance of any processor is shown by:
• Rel Perf: Relative Performance metric of any cpu is calculated relative to the
performance of the Xeon E5540
• $ / Rel Perf : Is the price of the chip at list price divided by this calculated
relative performance. 
• Raw Clock: Aggregate clock speed of all cores
• $ / Raw Clock : Is the price of each 1GHz clock speed
• TDP: Thermal Design Power is the maximum amount of heat generated by a
computer chip that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate.
“Nehalem”
Xeon
5500s

The Xeon E5540 is shown in red, and while that was a pretty impressive chip at the time – what Intel called
“transformational” and indeed it was.
“Westmere”
Xeon
5600s
“Sandy Bridge”
Xeon
E5-2600 v1
“Ivy Bridge”
Xeon
E5-2600 v2
“Haswell”
Xeon
E5-2600 v3
“Haswell”
Xeon
E5-2600 v3
“Broadwell”
Xeon
E5-2600 v4 
“Broadwell”
Xeon
E5-2600 v4 
Intel Xeon E5-2620 (V1 – V4) Specifications Comparison
Source: intel.com
 Intel® Xeon® Intel® Xeon®
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 v3 Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620
Processor E5-2620 v4 (15M Cache, 2.40 Processor E5-2620 v2 (15M Cache, 2.00
(20M Cache, 2.10 GHz) GHz) (15M Cache, 2.10 GHz) GHz
Code Name Broadwell Haswell Ivy Bridge EP Sandy Bridge EP
Essentials
Vertical Segment Server Server Server Server
Processor Number E5-2620V4 E5-2620V3 E5-2620V2 E5-2620
Status Launched Launched Launched Launched
Launch Date Q1'16 Q3'14 Q3'13 Q1'12
Lithography 14 nm 22 nm 22 nm 32 nm
Recommended Customer Price $417.00 - $422.00 $417.00 - $422.00 $406.00 - $410.00 $360.00 - $410.00
Performance
# of Cores 8 6 6 6
# of Threads 16 12 12 12
Processor Base Frequency 2.10 GHz 2.40 GHz 2.10 GHz 2.00 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.00 GHz 3.20 GHz 2.60 GHz 2.50 GHz
Cache 20 MB SmartCache 15 MB SmartCache 15 MB SmartCache 15 MB SmartCache
Bus Speed 8 GT/s QPI 8 GT/s QPI 7.2 GT/s QPI 7.2 GT/s QPI
# of QPI Links 2 2 2 2
TDP 85 W 85 W 80 W 95 W
VID Voltage Range 0 0.65V–1.30V 0.65–1.30V 0.60V-1.35V
 Intel® Xeon®
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 Intel® Xeon® Processor Intel® Xeon®
Processor E5-2620 v4 v3 (15M Cache, 2.40 E5-2620 v2 (15M Cache, Processor E5-2620
(20M Cache, 2.10 GHz) GHz) 2.10 GHz) (15M Cache, 2.00 GHz)
Supplemental Information
Embedded Options Available Yes Yes No Yes
Conflict Free Yes Yes Yes Yes
Datasheet Link Link Link Link
Product Brief Link
Additional Information URL Link Link
Memory Specifications
Max Memory Size(dependent on
memory type) 1.54 TB 768 GB 768 GB 384 GB
Memory Types DDR4 1600/1866/2133 DDR4 1600/1866 DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600 DDR3 800/1066/1333
Max # of Memory Channels 4 4 4 4
Max Memory Bandwidth 68.3 GB/s 59 GB/s 51.2 GB/s 42.6 GB/s
Physical Address Extensions 46-bit 46-bit 46-bit
ECC Memory Supported ‡ Yes Yes Yes Yes
Expansion Options
Scalability 2S 2S 2S Only 2S Only
PCI Express Revision 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
PCI Express Configurations ‡ x4, x8, x16 x4, x8, x16 x4, x8, x16
Max # of PCI Express Lanes 40 40 40 40
 Intel® Xeon® Intel® Xeon® Intel® Xeon® Intel® Xeon®
Processor E5-2620 v4 Processor E5-2620 Processor E5-2620 v2 Processor E5-2620
(20M Cache, 2.10 GHz) v3 (15M Cache, 2.40 (15M Cache, 2.10 GHz) (15M Cache, 2.00
Advanced Technologies
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.0
Intel® vPro™ Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology for
Directed I/O (VT-d) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT) Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® TSX-NI Yes No No
Intel® 64 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Instruction Set 64-bit 64-bit 64-bit 64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions AVX 2.0 AVX 2.0 AVX AVX
Idle States Yes Yes Yes Yes
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Demand Based Switching Yes Yes Yes Yes
Thermal Monitoring Technologies Yes Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Flex Memory Access No No No No
Intel® Identity Protection Technology ‡ No No No No
 Intel® Xeon® Processor Intel® Xeon® Processor Intel® Xeon® Processor Intel® Xeon® Processor
E5-2620 v4 (20M Cache, E5-2620 v3 (15M Cache, E5-2620 v2 (15M Cache, E5-2620 (15M Cache, 2.00
2.10 GHz) 2.40 GHz) 2.10 GHz) GHz)
Package Specifications
Sockets Supported FCLGA2011-3 FCLGA2011-3 FCLGA2011 FCLGA2011
Max CPU Configuration 2 2 2 2
T_CASE 74°C 72.6°C 71°C 77.4°C
Package Size 45mm x 52.5mm 52.5mm x 45mm 52.5mm x 45mm 52.5mm x 45.0mm
Low Halogen Options Available See MDDS See MDDS See MDDS See MDDS
Security & Reliability
Intel® AES New Instructions Yes Yes Yes Yes
Secure Key Yes Yes Yes
Intel® OS Guard Yes Yes Yes
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes
Execute Disable Bit Yes Yes Yes Yes
Cpu Benchmark

• http://cpuboss.com/
• https://browser.geekbench.com/processor-benchmarks
• https://www.cpubenchmark.net/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeon
• https://ark.intel.com/
https://www.cpubenchmark.net
Core vs Xeon: Which Intel CPU should you choose?
• http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/processors/
core-vs-xeon-which-intel-cpu-should-you-choose-1326109
Advanced Intel Server Technologies
Intel Xeon Cpu Family Selection Guide
Advanced Intel Server Technologies
Affordable Servers for Small Businesses and More

Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1200 v3 &v4 Product Family

• 1-processor servers ideal for:

• Most small business workloads
• Some departmental workloads for larger companies
• Certain lightweight or graphics-intensive data center workloads
Flexible and Efficient Servers for Standard Infrastructure

Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v3 & v4 Product Family

• 2-processor servers ideal for most workloads, including:

• Standard infrastructure
• Virtualization, cloud, and big data
• Technical computing
Scalable Servers for Business Intelligence & Mission-Critical workloads
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7-8800/4800/2800 v2 & v3 Product Families

• 2-256 processor servers ideal for:

• Real-time business intelligence/business analytics
• RISC replacement
• Mission-critical enterprise computing
• Large in-memory or back-end databases
• Heavy workloads in native, virtual, and private cloud deployments
• Large-scale virtualization and consolidation
• Scale-up high performance computing (HPC)
Microservers for Lightweight, Highly-Parallel Workloads
lightweight, web-scale workloads such as entry-level dedicated hosting run more
efficiently on large numbers of smaller server cores
Intel® Xeon® Processor E3 v3 & v4 Product Family
• up to 5.8x greater performance per SSI rack compared to a rack of 1U servers
• Support thermal design points (TDPs) as low as 13W per node.
Intel® Atom™ Processor C2000 Product Family
• up to 7 times higher performance and 6 times better energy efficiency
• TDPs down to 6W per node and deliver highest node density
Intel Xeon Cpu Naming Guide
General Xeon naming (old)

Xeon E5-1600 v(1-4) series for single socket

Xeon E5-2600 v(1-4) series for dual socket
Xeon E5-4600 v(1-4) series for 4 sockets
Xeon E7-4800 series for businesses with deep pockets
Xeon E7-8800 series for world domination
General Xeon naming (new)

Name - Series - Cores

Xeon Platinum 8000 series: 22–28
Xeon Gold 5000/6000 series: 14–22
Xeon Silver 4000 series: 10–12
Xeon Bronze 3000 series: <10
SKU Level  

8 Platinum
6, 5 Gold
4 Silver
3 Bronze

Processor Generation  

1 1st Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors

Integrations and Optimizations  

F Fabric
T High Tcase/extended reliability

Memory Capacity  

No suffix 768 GB per socket

M 1.5 TB per socket