SELECTION GUIDE
Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers
Intel® ItanIum® processor-based servers
Intel® processor-based
server selection Guide
Find the right servers for Your business
Every IT organization has to satisfy a unique mix of server purchase
requirements (high performance, reliability, technology headroom, etc.), while
working within data center constraints, including budget, floor space, power/
thermal capacity, and many others. Your servers need to fit your deployment
strategy (scale up vs. scale out), while delivering optimized support across a
broad range of applications. They must also provide a flexible foundation for
virtualization and cloud computing, so you can consolidate your infrastructure,
drive down your costs, and improve your service levels—even as you continue
to add new capabilities to grow your business.
Whatever your requirements, you can take comfort in knowing that Intel,
the world leader in server technology, has server platforms based on
advanced, proven technology to help you deliver more efficient, dependable,
and responsive solutions for business. This guide helps you select from the
broad range of Intel® processor-based servers.
The Intel® Xeon® Processor Family
The latest Intel® Xeon® processors usher in a new era of intelligent performance that takes energy-efficiency and
compute density to new heights, while delivering best-in-class support for virtualization, consolidation, and cloud
computing. Servers based on these processors can help you create a standardized, reliable IT infrastructure that
helps you drive down data center space, power, cooling, and management costs, while providing exceptional
performance and reliability, even for your most data-demanding applications.
Intelligent Performance
Intel Xeon processors offer leadership performance across multiple
industry benchmarks
1in servers that range in size from 1 to 256 sockets.
The latest processors boost performance by up to 80 percent versus the
prior generation,
2and include advanced technologies to address key
data center challenges. They deliver better performance per Watt by
intelligently adapting processor frequencies to match workloads. They
provide hardware assists for virtualization, so you can consolidate more
applications on fewer servers with better performance. These processors
also provide advanced security features, including Intel® Advanced
Encryption Standards New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI),
3which reduces
the performance penalties of encryption, and Intel® Trusted Execution
Technology (Intel® TXT),
◊which provides hardware-based resistance to
software attacks that occur before the virtual machine boots. With these
and other advantages, the latest Intel Xeon processors provide the ideal
foundation for the next-generation data center.
Security, Reliability, and Efficiency
Intel Xeon processor-based systems are built with advanced features
that give you the headroom, reliability, and compatibility you need to
keep pace with an ever-changing business environment. Advanced
reliability and security features work to maintain data integrity,
accelerate encrypted transactions, maximize availability, and provide a
foundation for trusted infrastructure. Advanced power management
technologies optimize energy-efficiency and virtually eliminate the
power draw for inactive portions of the chip, while intelligently ramping
up performance for peak workloads.
1 Processor Systems: Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1200
v2 Product Family
Servers based on the Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1200 v2 product family
offer a smart investment for small businesses, providing increased
responsiveness and stronger security at affordable prices. These
servers boost performance up to 30 percent
4versus the prior
generation, and provide up to 5.9x better performance than a four-year
old desktop with up to 6.5x better energy efficiency.
5Advanced
malware protection is provided by Intel® OS Guard and Intel® TXT.
Intel® Secure Key and Intel® AES-NI help to improve online security and
enable faster and more secure data encryption. Other integrated
technologies help to ensure data and applications are always
available, including Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) for
protecting data against hard drive failures, and ECC memory, which
automatically corrects memory errors.
1- 4 Processor Systems: Intel® Xeon® Processor
E5-4600/2600/2400/1600 Product Families
As the world’s most widely deployed server architecture, Intel Xeon
processor-based servers deliver proven support for the broadest range
of business needs, including e-mail, departmental applications, Java*
application servers, financial applications, and more. Servers and
storage based on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family are the
foundation of a flexible and efficient data center that scales readily to
meet growing needs. They offer best-in-class performance in virtualized
environments and a better foundation for security. They also provide
industry-leading energy-efficiency, plus tools for optimizing power at
the rack, row, and data center levels.
Intel® Xeon® processor e5-4600/2600/2400/1600 product Families
Based on a new Intel microarchitecture and Intel’s leading-edge 32nm
process technology, the latest Intel Xeon processor E5 family delivers up
to 80 percent
2more performance than previous-generation processors.
Additional performance gains up to 75 percent can be realized for customers moving
from 2-sockets to the 4-socket Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 product family in the
same form factor.
6The Intel Xeon processor E5 family offers more cores, cache, and
memory capacity, and include Intel® Integrated I/O, which increases I/O capacity and
reduces latency up to 30 percent.
7Intel® Intelligent Power Technology dynamically
optimizes energy-efficiency to keep performance high and costs down across the data
center. These processors are ideal for demanding technical applications, since Intel®
Advanced Vector Instructions (Intel® AVX) boosts performance up to 2x for vector and
floating point operations.
8Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series
The prior generation Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series helps IT meet the requirements
of the growing data center by intelligently optimizing performance and energy
consumption based on application needs. These processors support up to 6 cores, 12
MB of last level cache, and 9 DIMMs per socket. They also include advanced security
technologies such as Intel TXT and Intel AES-NI.
2-Processor to 256-Processor Large Memory Systems:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E7-8800/4800/2800
∆Product Families
The Intel® Xeon® processor E7-8800/4800/2800 product families are ideal for
mission-critical enterprise applications and for virtualization and consolidation, where
performance, scalability, and reliability are critical. With their expandable designs, these
servers increase business and IT agility and help drive down costs. They offer more
processors, memory, I/O, and redundancy than standard 2-socket systems and are well
suited for data- and transaction-intensive applications. While primarily used in 4-socket
and larger servers, there is growing interest in 2-socket systems based on the Intel Xeon
processor E7-2800 product family.
Intel® Xeon® processor e7 Family
The top-of-the-line Intel® Xeon® processor E7 family builds on the breakthrough
mission-critical capability of the Intel® Xeon® processor 7500 series (described below), delivering
up to 40 percent more performance,
9more resources (cores, threads, and cache), twice the
memory capacity, and additional reliability and security features. Servers range in size from
2 to 256 sockets. Each socket provides up to 20 threads, 30 MB of on-die cache, and
supports up to 16 DIMMS. With world-record virtualization performance
10and 18x
performance per server versus dual-core processors, the Intel Xeon processor E7 family
delivers up to 18:1 server consolidation
11to drive down data center power, cooling, and
space requirements. The extraordinary scalability and reliability of servers based on these
processors make them ideal for replacing legacy UNIX/RISC systems and for hosting the
full range of mission-critical applications, including business processing (database, ERP,
CRM), business intelligence, large-scale virtualization, and large-node technical computing.
Intel® Xeon® processor 7500 series
Prior-generation Intel Xeon processor 7500 series-based servers delivered a quantum
leap in enterprise computing, providing up to 8 cores,16 threads, and 24 MB of cache
per processor, and 4 advanced, high-bandwidth Intel® QuickPath Interconnect links.
These servers scale from 2 to 256 sockets and provide up to a full terabyte of
memory in a 4-socket configuration. With more than 20 new advanced reliability
features versus previous generations, the Intel Xeon processor 7500 series is
architected for data-demanding and mission-critical applications.
Moving Forward with Confidence
A Superior Foundation
for Virtualization and
Cloud Computing
businesses are moving toward end-to-end
virtualiza-tion to drive down costs and are evolving toward
cloud computing to improve efficiencies, agility, and
service levels. Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers
provide an optimized foundation for virtualizing all
enterprise applications and for moving confidently
toward next-generation private, public, and hybrid
cloud solutions.
• The broad range of scalable, reliable, and
energy-efficient servers provides a flexible foundation for
virtualization, consolidation, and cloud computing.
• Intel® virtualization technology (Intel® vt)
enables near-native virtualization performance
with low overhead, even for database and
transactional applications.
• Intel® vt Flexmigration enables seamless workload
migration across server generations. It can
estab-lish a single pool of virtualized resources, which is
ideal for the transition to cloud computing.
• advanced security technologies help protect
systems and data in virtualized and cloud
environ-ments. Intel® AES-NI significantly reduces the
performance penalties of encryption. Intel® tXt
helps It establish trusted pools of virtualized
resources by ensuring that virtual machines boot
only into “known good states.” both capabilities are
valuable when moving data and workloads,
espe-cially across federated private and public clouds.
• Intel® ethernet 10 Gigabit server adapters provide
up to 10x higher bandwidth and up to 45 percent
lower power consumption per rack to address
growing bandwidth needs in virtualized and
cloud infrastructure.
12• Intel Xeon processor-based storage systems
combine high performance and scalability with
advanced data protection features for scaling out
storage cost-effectively. Intel® solid-state drives
deliver superior performance and efficiency for
I/o-intensive applications.
options for affordable scalability. These servers offer
superior energy efficiency and IT value with leading
mi-croarchitecture, 32nm silicon technology, multi-core
processors, and comprehensive platform solutions
de-signed for high performance, density, and versatility.
of your industry-standard high-volume servers. Ideal
for the most demanding, mission-critical database, ERP,
server virtualization, and reducing server footprint
through data center consolidation.
advantages over prior Generation
delivers up to 80% more performance for two-socket
servers than the previous-generation Intel® Xeon®
processor 5600 series.
24-socket servers based on the new Intel Xeon
processor E5-4600 product family add up to 75%
more performance over two-socket servers based
on the E5-2600 for denser-computing solutions.
13More cores, threads, and cache, up to twice the
memory capacity, and additional reliability and
security features take mission-critical computing
capability to new heights over the Intel Xeon processor
7500 series.
advantages over competition
Extends the industry-leading performance,
energy-efficiency, and compute density
of 2- to 4-socket volume servers based on the Intel
Xeon processor, while delivering best-in-class support for
virtualization, with features such as Intel® Virtualization
Technology for Connectivity (Intel® VT-c) and Intel®
Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel® VT-d).
adapts to workloads to optimize power and
performance: Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
dynamically adjusts core frequencies; Intel® QuickPath
Technology delivers scalable shared memory architecture
with high-speed, point-to-point interconnects.
Improved I/o: Intel® Integrated I/O reduces latency
up to 30%, while enabling greater I/O capacity and
improved bandwidth.
extends Intel’s industry-leading enterprise
performance on multi-socket processor-
based servers.
extraordinary server reliability keeps your
mission-critical workloads running.
socket scaling supports systems with up to
256 processors, providing scalable performance
for the largest and most data-demanding workloads.
virtualization technologies across the entire platform
enable near-native VM performance for demanding
workloads with exceptionally high VM densities. These
servers also support the economical use of multi-
generational Intel Xeon processor-based systems in
a single virtualization pool.
advanced security features help to protect systems and data more effectively, to reduce costs associated with
malware protection/remediation, data breaches, and data loss.
• Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) significantly reduces the
performance penalties usually experienced with pervasive encryption.
• Intel® trusted execution technology (Intel® tXt) helps to increase malware protection through measured
launches into “known good states.”
It benefits
outstanding virtualization headroom in a 2-socket
platform (and even greater headroom in affordable
4-socket servers) to support higher consolidation ratios
with better application performance.
lower operating costs through intelligent and
auto-mated management of processor resources to optimize
performance and energy-efficiency across all workloads.
Ideal for virtualizing and consolidating data-demanding
enterprise applications.
14most virtualization headroom…period. 10-core
(20 thread) processing supports the highest
consolidation ratios of any Intel Xeon processor.
15system power and os licensing cost savings of over
90% via 18:1 consolidation of older 4-socket systems
using dual-core processors.
11sockets
1-4
2-256
number of cores
4, 6, or 8
6, 8, or 10
Frequency
Up to 3.3 GHz
Up to 2.4 GHz
on die cache
Up to 20 MB shared L3
Up to 30 MB shared L3
Interconnect type and speed
Quick Path Interconnect (up to 8.0 GT/s)
Quick Path Interconnect (up to 6.4 GT/s)
memory type
DDR3
DDR3
max memory capacity
Up to 768 GB (2S); Up to 1.5 TB (4S)
Up to 2 TB (4S); Up to 4 TB (8S)
I/o type
Intel Integrated I/O supporting latest PCIe* 3 specification PCIe Gen 2 and PCIe
I/o capacity
Better
Best
microarchitecture
Intel® Microarchitecture (Sandy Bridge)
Intel® Microarchitecture (Nehalem)
Intel® turbo boost technology
§Yes (select processors)
Yes (select processors)
Intel® Hyper-threading technology
ΦYes (select processors)
Yes (select processors)
Intelligent power technology
‡Yes
Yes
Intel® virtualization technology
+Yes (with FlexMigration)
Yes (with FlexMigration)
system level reliability
Better
Best
The Intel® Itanium® Processor 9000
∆Sequence
Itanium®-based servers deliver powerful and scalable performance for UNIX* and
mainframe environments, plus world-class availability for mission-critical applications.
Their proven performance, power efficiency, and standards-based architecture provide
a robust and cost-effective alternative to proprietary RISC architectures. With support
for HP-UX, Linux*, and Windows,* these servers are ideal for today’s most demanding
workloads, including database applications, data warehousing, large-scale ERP, and
business analytics.
The latest Intel® Itanium® processor 9300 series delivers more than double the
performance of the previous generation, plus up to six times more memory bandwidth,
up to nine times more interconnect bandwidth, and up to eight times more memory
capacity.
16It provides incredible scalability and a powerful, flexible, and energy-efficient
foundation for data center virtualization, consolidation, and workload management.
• Scalable performance for enterprise workloads with up to 512 processors and
support for up to 1,024 terabytes of RAM, plus 30 MB on-die cache, dual integrated
memory controllers, Intel® Scalable Memory Interconnect, and Intel QuickPath
Interconnect Technology.
• World-class reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) to protect critical applications,
with Intel® Cache Safe Technology and Advanced Machine Check Architecture.
• A powerful platform for data center consolidation with Intel® Virtualization Technology,
flexible partitioning, and dynamic resources management.
• Lower TCO and better investment protection.
Micro Servers
New Cost Efficiencies
for Lightweight, Highly
Parallel Workloads
most data center workloads run best on two-socket
or larger Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers, but
some lightweight, highly-parallel workloads run
more efficiently on large numbers of smaller servers.
Examples include ultra-low-end Web serving, static
content delivery, and basic dedicated hosting,
as well as some analytics and non-relational
database applications.
To improve density and energy-efficiency for these
workloads, Intel has worked with server
manufac-turers to deliver a new class of micro servers.
current micro servers based on the Intel® Xeon®
processor e3 v2 family support power options as
low as 15W per node. additional platforms based
on the Intel® atom™ processor are expected to
launch in 2012 and deliver sub-10W power options.
all of these servers include support for 64-bit
software, Intel® Virtualization Technology, and
error-correcting code (ecc) memory.
these new micro servers are expected to play
an increasingly important role in large-scale
Internet and service provider data centers, as
well as other environments in which low-power,
dense servers may be more efficient than fewer,
more robust servers.
application requirements and desired deployment model.
Step 1: What Do Your Applications Demand of Your Servers?
Applications and the users who rely on them vary in their requirements. Infrastructure
applications such as e-mail, networking, and office databases demand cost-effective
capacity. Enterprise applications such as analytics and ERP require higher performance and
data bandwidth. Start by choosing the most cost-effective server that meets the needs
of your application. The table below can help.
requirement
Applications
Best Value
mission-critical computing
Highly scalable, most reliable
computing platform for
mission-critical IT workloads
• Large database applications
• Data warehousing
• Large-scale ERP
• Large-scale business
analytics
• Real-time transaction
systems
Highest scalability/
availability
Intel® Itanium® processor
9000
∆sequence-based
servers and Intel® Xeon®
processor E7
∆family-
based servers
data demanding
Compute power and
headroom for data-
and transaction-
intensive applications
• Server consolidation/
virtualization
• Enterprise databases
• Business Intelligence (BI)
• ERP
• SCM
• Decision support
• CRM
• Transaction-intensive
applications such as
e-Commerce
powerful
Intel® Xeon® processor E7
family-based servers
standard Infrastructure
Cost-effective, easy-to-
manage performance and
capacity for standard
business applications
• Infrastructure virtualization
• Mail and web
• Networking
• File/print
• Office or department
databases
• Line-of-business
applications
• Rendering farms
• Application servers
• Technical computing
• Scale-out of financial
service and Java* applications
versatile
Intel® Xeon® processor E5
family-based servers
workloads are now running on industry-standard
servers, including business intelligence, data
warehousing, database, and enterprise resource
planning applications.
17In the current economic
environment, IT managers have a strong desire
to eliminate the high costs and inflexibility of
proprietary rIsc architectures. many are migrating
away from rIsc-based systems to Intel® Xeon®
and Intel® Itanium® processor-based servers, even
for mission-critical solutions where the highest
levels of scalability and availability are required.
servers based on the Intel Xeon processor e5
family and Intel Xeon processor e7 family are
offered at substantially lower prices and provide
significantly better price/performance than
servers based on the oracle ultrasparc* t2+
processor, the Fujitsu SPARC64VII* processor
and the Ibm poWer 7* processor.
18Step 2: Optimize Data Center Value
Servers need to fit your data center deployment model and budget, as well as the applications they host.
The following table matches Intel processor-based servers to data center needs:
High Performance Computing (HPC)
and Technical Computing
High Performance Computing and technical computing applications vary
widely in their response to different server architectures.
Intel Xeon processor e5 Family: Purpose-built 2- and 4-socket HPC
servers for CPU- and memory-bandwidth-intensive workloads where
high performance and performance per Watt are critical. These
processors are ideal for technical applications, since Intel® AVX boosts
performance up to 2x for floating point operations.
20Compelling
features for HPC include up to 8 cores, 16 threads, and Intel AVX for CPU
bound workloads. Support for up to 12 DIMMs per socket (up to 768 GB
in 2S; 1.5 TB in 4S) and 4 memory channels meets the challenges of
memory bound workloads. Node-to-node latency for highly clustered
solutions is reduced with up to 40 lanes of PCIe* 3.0 per socket. Other
performance-enhancing features include Intel® Turbo Boost Technology
2.0 and Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology. These well-balanced
servers are ideal for technical computing, including seismic modeling,
digital content creation, financial and design analysis, fluid dynamics, life
sciences, and more.
Intel® Xeon® processor e7 Family: These expandable 2- to 8-socket
servers deliver scalable performance for data-demanding,
transaction-intensive, technical computing workloads requiring individual or clustered
systems based on large-memory, high-core-count supernodes. With up
to 10 cores and 30 MB of shared on-die cache per processor, up to 2 TB
of memory in a 4-socket system, and unique data traffic optimization
features, the Intel Xeon processor E7 family is ideal for accelerating
performance on complex, time-critical calculations.
Intel® Xeon® processor e3 Family: For deployments seeking lowest
cost and highest density. Small form factor single-processor servers
offer cost-sensitive buyers great performance for 64-bit applications,
such as web farms and financial analysis, and for extending HPC in
density-challenged data centers.
Feature
Benefit
1- to 4-Processor Servers:
Intel® Xeon® Processor
E5
∆Family
2- to 256-Processor
Servers: Intel® Xeon®
Processor E7
∆Family
Intel® Itanium® Processor
9000
∆Sequence
Reliability,
data security
Always-on server availability and
unique architectural and platform
security features aimed at
pro-tecting and verifying real-time
accuracy of business-critical data.
Performance,
Memory, and
I/o scalability
Support for more processors,
memory and I/O in the same
system. Higher scalability usually
means more application
performance per server.
1-4 sockets
768 GB memory (2S)
1.5 TB memory (4S)
2-256 sockets
2 TB memory (4 socket)
2- 512 sockets
1024 TB memory
19server
deployment
model
Companies choose server
deploy-ment models that best fit their
business model and IT strategy.
scale out provides a rapid
method of adding incremental
smaller IT resources to meet
business growth demands.
Pedestal, Rack, Blade
scale up enables the deployment of fewer, more powerful servers
with the capability to handle more demanding applications and
built-in headroom to handle peak periods and business growth.
Rack and Blade
application
migration
versatility
64- and 32-bit application and
operating system support for the
broadest array of today’s leading
mainstream and mainframe-class
operating systems.
Predominantly Windows* and
Linux* with support for Solaris*
Predominantly Windows* and
Linux* with support for Solaris*
Mission-critical UNIX* (HP-UX)
with support for Windows*
and Linux*
Good
Better
Best
To learn more about Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers,
go to www.intel.com/xeon or speak to your local Intel reseller.
To learn more about Intel® Itanium® processor-based servers,
go to www.intel.com/itanium.
Performance and competitive information is accurate at time of document publication. For latest competitive and performance information, visit www.intel.com/performance.
Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel® microprocessors. Performance tests, such as SYSmark* and MobileMark*, are measured using specific computer systems, compo-nents, software, operations, and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products.
INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL® PRODUCTS. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL’S TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FOR SUCH PRODUCTS, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WAR-RANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENTOF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. UNLESS OTHERWISE AGREED IN WRITING BY INTEL, THE INTEL PRODUCTS ARE NOT DESIGNED NOR INTENDED FOR ANY APPLICATION IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF THE INTEL PRODUCT COULD CREATE A SITUATION WHERE PERSONAL INJURY OR DEATH MAY OCCUR.
Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. Designers must not rely on the absence or characteristics of any features or instructions marked “reserved” or “undefined.” Intel reserves these for future definition and shall have no responsibility whatsoever for conflicts or incompatibilities arising from future changes to them. The information here is subject to change without notice. Do not finalize a design with this information. The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request. Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order. Copies of documents which have an order number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may be obtained by calling 1-800-548-4725, or by visiting www.intel.com.
Copyright © 2012 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Core, Itanium, Xeon, Xeon Inside, and Itanium Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
0412/JRR/HBD/PDF 323504-005US
Φ Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with an Intel® processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology and an HT Technology enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See http://www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading/ for more information including details on which processors support HT Technology.
‡ Intel® Intelligent Power Technology requires a computer system with an enabled Intel® processor, chipset, BIOS and for some features, an operating system enabled for it. Functionality or other benefits may vary depending on hardware implementation and may require a BIOS and/or operating system update. Please check with your system vendor for details.
1 For the latest Intel processor-based server performance benchmarks, including test descriptions, results, and disclaimers, visit the Intel web site at: http://www.intel.com/performance/server/
2 Source: Performance comparison using best submitted/published 2-socket server results on the SPECfp*_rate_base2006 benchmark as of 6 March 2012. Baseline score of 271 published by Itautec on the Servidor Itautec MX203* and Servi-dor Itautec MX223* platforms based on the prior generation Intel® Xeon® processor X5690. New score of 492 submitted for publication by Dell on the PowerEdge T620 platform and Fujitsu on the PRIMERGY RX300 S7* platform based on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2690. For additional details, please visit http://www.spec.org. Intel does not control or audit the design or implementation of third party benchmark data or Web sites referenced in this document. Intel encourages all of its customers to visit the referenced Web sites or others where similar performance benchmark data are reported and confirm whether the referenced benchmark data are accurate and reflect performance of systems available for purchase. 3 Intel® AES-NI requires a computer system with an AES-NI enabled processor, as well as non-Intel software to execute the instructions in the correct sequence. AES-NI is available on select Intel® processors. For availability, consult your
reseller or system manufacturer. For more information, see Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard Instructions (AES-NI) http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-advanced-encryption-standard-instructions-aes-ni/ NOTE: Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard Instructions (AES-NI) should hyperlink to http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-advanced-encryption-standard-instructions-aes-ni/ for online versions.
4 30% better performance on Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1280 compared to Intel® Xeon® Processor X3480 on SPECjvm*2008 based on Intel performance estimates as of December 2010.
5 Averaged normalized performance and performance/watt of three SMB workloads (e-mail, database, and web) on a 1S server based on Intel® Xeon® processor E3-1240 is up to 5.9x better and up to 6.5x more energy-efficient than a desktop-based server using Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E6400 based on the results of a study conducted by Principled Technologies.
6 Source: Claim based on performance comparisons using best measured 2- and 4-socket server results on the SPECjbb*2005 benchmark as of 1 March 2012. Server-side Java* - SPECjbb*2005 (Source: TR#1228) Baseline 2-socket populated Intel® C606 Chipset-based customer reference server using two Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2690 (8C, 20M Cache, 2.9GHz, 8.0GT/s Intel QPI), 32GB memory (8x 4GB DDR3-1600 DIMMs), Microsoft Windows Server* 2008R2 Enterprise Edition, Oracle HotSpot* 64-bit Server VM build 20,0-v11 using Java* SE RE 1.6.0 Update 25. Score: 1,520,408 bops. New 4-socket populated Intel® C606 Chipset-based customer reference server with four Intel® Xeon® proces-sors E5-4650 (8C, 20M Cache, 2.7GHz, 8.0GT/s Intel QPI), 128GB memory (16x 8GB DDR3-1600 DIMMs), Microsoft Windows Server* 2008R2 Enterprise Edition, Oracle HotSpot* 64-bit Server VM build 20,0-v11 using Java* SE RE 1.6.0 Update 25. Score: 2,663,768 bops.
7 Intel measurements of average time for an I/O device read to local system memory under idle conditions. Improvement compares Xeon processor E5-2600 product family (230 ns) vs. Xeon processor 5500 series (340 ns). Baseline Configura-tion: Green City system with two Intel® Xeon processor E5520 (2.26GHz, 4C), 12GB memory @ 1333, C- States Enabled, Turbo Enabled. New Configuration: Meridian system with two Intel(r) Xeon processor E5-2665 (C0 stepping, 2.4GHz, 8C), 32GB memory @1600 MHz, C-States Enabled, Turbo Enabled. The measurements were taken with a LeCroy* PCIe* protocol analyzer using Intel internal Rubicon (PCIe* 2.0) and Florin (PCIe* 3.0) test cards running under Windows* 2008 R2 w/SP1.
8 Performance comparison using Linpack benchmark. Baseline score of 159.4 based on Intel internal measurements as of 5 December 2011 using a Supermicro* X8DTN+ system with two Intel® Xeon® processor X5690, Turbo Enabled, EIST Enabled, Hyper-Threading Enabled, 48 GB RAM, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux Server 6.1 beta for x86_6. New score of 347.7 based on Intel internal measurements using an Intel® Rose City platform with two Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2690, Turbo Enabled or Disabled, EIST Enabled, Hyper-Threading Enabled, 64 GB RAM, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux Server 6.1 beta for x86_6.
9 Up to 40% generational compute-intensive throughput claim based on SPECint*_rate_base2006benchmark comparing next generation Intel® Xeon® processor E7-4870 (30M cache, 2.40GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel® QPI, codenamed Westmere-EX) scoring 1,010 (includes Intel Compiler XE2011 improvements accounting for about 11% of the performance boost) to X7560 (24M cache, 2.26GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel QPI, formerly codenamed Nehalem-EX) scoring 723 (Intel Compiler 11.1). Source: Intel SSG TR#1131.
10 World-record virtualization performance claim based on all published VMmark* 1.x results on http://www.ideasinternational.com/Benchmark-Top-Ten/VMmark-1-x. Top-ranked Fujitsu PRIMERGY* RX600 S5 uses four Intel®Xeon® processor X7560 (24M cache, 2.26GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel QPI).
11 Up to 18:1 server consolidation performance with return on investment in about one year” claim estimated based on comparison between 4S MP Intel® Xeon® processor 7041 (dual-core with Intel® HyperThreading Technology, 4M cache, 3.00GHz, 800MHz FSB, formerly code named Paxville) and 4S Intel® Xeon® processor E7-4870 (30M cache, 2.40GHz, 6.4GT/s Intel® QPI, code named Westmere-EX) based servers. Calculation includes analysis based on performance, power, cooling, electricity rates, operating system annual license costs and estimated server costs. This assumes 42U racks, $0.10 per kWh, cooling costs are 2x the server power consumption costs, operating system license cost of $900/ year per server, per server cost of $36,000 based on estimated list prices, and estimated server utilization rates. All dollar figures are approximate. Estimated SPECint*_rate_base2006 performance and power results are measured for Intel® Xeon® processor E7-4870 and estimated for Intel Xeon processor 7041 based servers. Platform power was measured during the steady state window of the benchmark run and at idle. Performance gain compared to baseline was 18x (trun-cated). Baseline platform: (measured score of 54.6; idle = 546W; active = 812W): Intel server with four Intel® Xeon® processor 7041 processors, 16GB memory (16x 2GB DDR2-400), 1 hard drive, 1 power supply, Microsoft Windows Server* 2008 Enterprise x64 Edition R2 operating system, Intel Compiler 11 built SPECcpu* 2006 November 2009 binaries. New platform: (measured score of 1,000; idle = 552W; active = 1053W): Intel internal reference server with four Intel® Xeon® processor E7-4870 (30M cache, 2.40GHz, 6.40GT/s Intel® QPI), 256GB memory (64 x Samsung 4GB 2Rx8 PC3L-10600R), 1 hard drive, 3 power supplies, using SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server 11 operating system, Intel C++ and Fortran Composer XE2011 built SPECcpu* 2006 January 2011 binaries. Source: Intel SSG TR#1131.
12 Assumptions: This ROI calculator is a cost comparison for a highly virtualized solution, using multiple 1GbE connections versus a dual port 10GbE implementation. In the 1GbE solution we use in each server two Intel® Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapters, in addition to two LOM connections with a total system bandwidth of 10 Gb. This is then compared with a 10GbE solution, using one Intel® 10 Gigabit AF DA Dual Port Server Adapter and a total system bandwidth of 20Gb. These adapters are connected to a top-of-rack 10GbE switch using passive direct attach twinax coax cables. http://www.event-management-online.de/LAD/calculator.aspx
13 Performance comparison using SPECjbb*2005 business operations per second (bops) benchmark results. (Source: TR#1228 as of 12 December 2011) Baseline 2-socket populated Intel® S2600CP Server Board-based platform using two Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2690 (8C, 2.9GHz up to 3.3GHz Turbo), 32GB memory (8x 4GB DDR3-1600 DIMMs), Microsoft Windows Server* 2008R2 Enterprise Edition, Oracle HotSpot* 64-bit Server VM build 20,0-v11 using Java* SE RE 1.6.0 Update 25. Score: 1,520,408 bops. New 4-socket populated Intel® C606 Chipset-based customer reference server with four Intel® Xeon® processors E5-4650 (8C, 2.7GHz up to 2.9GHz Turbo), 128GB memory (16x 8GB DDR3-1600 DIMMs), Microsoft Windows Server* 2008R2 Enterprise Edition, Oracle HotSpot* 64-bit Server VM build 20,0-v11 using Java* SE RE 1.6.0 Update 25. Score: 2,663,768 bops.
14 As compared to systems based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 7500 series or earlier processor generations.
15 More virtualization headroom claimed based on industry-standard benchmarks SPECvirt*_sc2010 and VMmark* 2.1 where 8-socket servers based on Intel Xeon processor E7 hold the top record for number of tiles or VMs supported. See http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/benchmarks/server/xeon-e7-summary.html for the performance summary.
16 Based on Intel internal measurements. 17 Source: IDC’s Server Workloads 2008, June 2008.
18 HP DL580 Intel® Xeon® processor X7460 2.66 GHz 4P/24C, 32 GB memory, SAP*-SD 2 Tier 5155 SDs at system price $26,233 compared to SUN UltraSPARC*T2+ T5240, 128 GB memory, SAP*-SD 2 Tier 4170 SDs at system price $64,795, compared to SUN UltraSPARCT*2+ T5440, 128 GB memory, SAP*-SD 2 Tier 7520 SDs at system price $129,995. POWER system comparison is versus a POWER 550/570 IBM POWER7.
19 Up to 512 CPUs are supported by Intel® Itanium® processor 9100 sequence-based systems and later generations by select system vendors.
20 Up to 2x performance boost for floating point operations (FLOPS): The Intel® Xeon® processor E5 product family supports Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel® AVX), which increases maximum vector size from 128 to 256 bits. Compared to the Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series, Intel AVX enables up to twice the work to be accomplished per clock cycle during floating point and vector operations. Intel Optimized SMP LINPACK 10.3.5 on Linux x86_64 Intel® Xeon® processor X5690 platform Intel® Xeon® 5600 platform with two Intel® Xeon® processors X5690 (6-Core, 3.46GHz, 12MB L3 cache, 6.4GT/s, B1-stepping), EIST Enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Hyper-Threading Disabled, 48GB memory (12x 4GB DDR3-1333 REG ECC), 160GB SATA 7200RPM HDD, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux Server 6.1 with kernel 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6.x86_64 . Source: Intel internal testing as of Nov 2011. Score: 159.36 Gflops. (TR#1236) Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2690 platform Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 Qual platform with two Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2690 (8-core 2.9GHz, 20M L3 cache, 8.0GT/s, 135W, C1-stepping), EIST Enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Hyper-Threading Disabled, 64GB memory (8x 8GB DDR3-1600 REG ECC), 160GB SATA 7200RPM HDD, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux Server 6.1 with kernel 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6.x86_64 . Source: Intel internal testing as of Nov 2011. Score: 347.69 Gflops. (TR#1236)
