Intel's 12-Core Xeon With 30 MB Of L3: The New Mac Pro's CPU?

Features
By Chris Angelini
published

Xeon E5-2600 V2: The Real Innovation Happens Up Top

Based on Intel’s exhaustive roadmap, it’s pretty clear how this year and next year are going to go down.

Ivy Bridge-E is coming up next. We know from Intel Core i7-4960X Preview: Ivy Bridge-E, Benchmarked that there’s not a whole lot to excite enthusiasts. Incremental performance gains and impressive efficiency won’t justify upgrading, and the X79 platform isn’t going to get anyone excited about building a new box.

Then we’re going to start seeing Haswell-based Core i3 and Pentium processors, followed by soldered-down Bay Trail-D Pentiums in Q4’13. That’ll be exciting, if only because the mainstream stack will consist of Haswell and Silvermont (I’m personally really looking forward to that architecture).

Next year we’ll get a “Haswell refresh,” along with the 9-series chipsets. And that’ll be followed by Haswell-E, which breaks processor interface compatibility with X79. If all goes according to plan, expect to see the first eight-core high-end desktop CPUs in the second half of next year.

Until then, enthusiasts have to look to the server and workstation space for evidence that Intel is still very much active beyond its aspirations to counter ARM’s momentum in the low-power space. Upcoming Ivy Bridge-EP-based Xeon E5s will operate within the same thermal envelopes as Intel’s LGA 2011-based Core i7s, but in four-, six-, eight-, 10-, and 12-core configurations. Most will drop into dual-socket platforms, though single- and quad-interface models are planned, too.

Of course we’d all love to see Intel pull out the stops and get enthusiasts excited with an eight-, 10-, or 12-core high-end desktop chip. But there’s just no business case to eat into sales of Xeon E5s.

Apple is going to have them in its next-gen Mac Pro workstations, and it’ll be interesting to see how much a 12-core Xeon E5 adds to the small cylinder’s price tag. Given a number of motherboard vendors that added Xeon E5 support to their X79 platforms, you should be able to build your own 12-core workstation running Windows. But if you thought that $1000 for an Extreme Edition CPU was nuts, just wait till you hear what a Xeon E5-2697 V2 will run you.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
47 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Someone Somewhere
    The 32-bit build of Geekbench uses x87 code

    Typo, top of page two.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    11342601 said:
    The 32-bit build of Geekbench uses x87 code

    Typo, top of page two.

    Where is the typo? Do you mean the x87? That's not a typo.

    This is interesting but not uncommon. The server market needs the boosts while most consumer desktop CPUs are already faster than most software can go.

    Of course in 5 years a SB i5 will be no longer relevant but until then it will serve just fine. Even a x58 i7 is still a viable option for a CPU and its been out for at least 4 years.
    Reply
  • vmem
    Interesting article. Must admit though, while the Mac Pro's performance is certainly impressive, the overall pace of development in the high-end has been rather boring for the past 2 years. can't wait to see what Haswell-E can do late next year.

    "Regardless of whether you love or hate the “wastebasket” design, the system’s specs are very impressive for the volume of space it occupies."

    And this remark touches on the core of the problem. these are a specialized, niche market of professionals who're buying this uber-expensive desktop for PRODUCTIVITY. sure it should look nice, especially in the office of a professional designer. but must it be SMALL? honestly, build a giant aluminum bookshelf if you have to. make it look elegant and artistic, maybe give people some power to customize it's looks, but ultimately give people the ability to customize the machine and buy the level of productivity they need. Apple, you've done some great things, as well as some things that I don't particularly like. but watching you kill the freedom of the small group of designers who love your products is rather sad...
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    11342721 said:
    11342601 said:
    The 32-bit build of Geekbench uses x87 code

    Typo, top of page two.

    Where is the typo? Do you mean the x87? That's not a typo.

    Hmm, on a quick Wikipedia read, x87 was the instruction set used for the floating point instruction sets in the 8087 and later FP co-processors. Interesting.

    Oops... sorry.
    Reply
  • natoco
    In a years time with the haswell refresh and series 9 chipset it will still make everyone yawn even if it was this year. Everything has been going into mobile since Nehalem. On the bright side, phones and tablets will start slowing down very soon once they too reach the same manufacturing node as enthusiast pc's, since the node determines the power envelope achievable, thus mobile is about to hit the same wall.
    Reply
  • CommentariesAnd More
    What I expected for the Mac Pro's CPU was a different CPU optimized for the Mac Pro. Would be surprised if the temps of made by this 12Core beast keep things cool. But hey , this isn't final , right ? Lets hope for the best ( and an affordable Mac Pro :) )
    Reply
  • PreferLinux
    http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Intel/CM8063501288843S-R171/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvqxsBVy5ZiuowErqth9imUwPY6%2fY0Um1w%3d
    Guess what?
    "Description: CPU - Central Processing Units Xeon E5-2697v2 12 CR 2.7GHz FCLGA2011"

    "Pricing (USD)
    1: $3,249.19
    2: $3,127.04"
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    11343328 said:
    What I expected for the Mac Pro's CPU was a different CPU optimized for the Mac Pro. Would be surprised if the temps of made by this 12Core beast keep things cool. But hey , this isn't final , right ? Lets hope for the best ( and an affordable Mac Pro :) )

    Nobody optimizes CPUs for anything. The set up costs are ridiculous. The closest you'll get is a custom config, like a chip with (for example) both multi-socket support and overclocking or something, but you'd have to show up to intel with a truck full of cash.
    Reply
  • Duckhunt
    as usual the folk running intel have become lazy and stupid and the developments in the desktop have gone down the hole. They just add some extra cache and extra threads and then act like they did something.Wow. ( at the stupidity).

    Instead of pushing out code or getting the rest of the industry to use more threading applications and develop it to make it more stable and useable. Nothing.
    I guess when we have a third world america. You might as well go back to a decade 1368x738 with it being the most popular in 2006. Who can afford it? It the retro push backward.
    Reply
  • Someone Somewhere
    Intel can't really do much about forcing the industry to use more threaded apps.

    Not their job to write code, other than drivers. They do make x86 Android though, because the drivers are pretty much hardcoded.

    Do agree on the 1366x768 though. It's the same number of lines as XGA, just with a few pixels on the side. Maybe Intel should have forced a PPI measurement on Ultrabooks - that might have helped.
    Reply