Intel Xeon E5-2690 Sandy Bridge-EP Performance Revealed

News
By
published

TechPowerUp received a "leaked" presentation that allegedly details Intel's Sandy Bridge-EP platform, along with early performance numbers.

Intel is taking its newly launched Core i7 Sandy Bridge-E platform to the enterprise market with a new line of Xeon processors. Intel's new enterprise variations include the Sandy Bridge-EN and Sandy Bridge-EP. The Sandy Bridge-EN is designed for high-density, low-power servers, while the Sandy Bridge-EP is designed for high-performance servers and workstations. The Sandy Bridge-EP is multi-socket capable platform. 

Image Leaked by TechPowerUp


The Sandy Bridge-EP appears to be basically the same design as the Sandy Bridge-E, but has several additional features not found with the Core processors. The Sandy Bridge-EP offers two QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) links, which utilize QPI 8.0 GT/s. This will help facilitate high-bandwidth inter-socket communication in multi-socket systems, up to eight cores, sixteen threads enabled by HyperThreading, and up to 20 MB of L3 cache memory. Sandy Bridge-EP will utilize a quad-channel DDR3 integrated memory controller (DDR3-1600 MHz) with support up to 768 GB of memory, via two sockets, eight DDR3 channels in all, LRDIMMs. In addition, Intel Integrated I/O has support for up to 80 lanes of PCIe 3.0.

Image Leaked by TechPowerUp

Image Leaked by TechPowerUp

Intel claims up to 80 percent performance boost versus its prior generation Westmere-EP platform. Using a Xeon X5690 six-core processor (@ 3.64 GHz) as the baseline, Intel put its new Xeon E5-2690 eight-core processor (@ 2.90 GHz) to the test. Performance results showed an improvement across the board on all testing; OLTP Database (TPC-C Oracle), Middle-Tier Java (SPECjbb 2005), Integer Throughput (SPECint_base2006), Floating Point Throughput (SPECfp_rate_base2006), Memory Bandwidth (STREAM_MP Triad), and Matrix Multiplication (Linpack).

Image Leaked by TechPowerUp

Intel provided details on its new Data Direct I/O Technology (DDIO). DDIO works to increase I/O performance by up to 2.3 times that of previous generation, reduces latency and allows system memory to remain in low power state.

Image Leaked by TechPowerUp
Doug Crowthers
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • theuniquegamer
    Nice specs it 768gb RAM support my pc has only 500gb hdd. Lol
    Reply
  • jgutz2006
    I'm excited to see benchmarks/comparisons to latest Opterons and their own Westmere Xeons.
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    Personally, I like the look of that SB-EN chip. It's not as overblown as the SB-E: 3 memory channels, 8 cores, 20MB cache, 24 PCIe3 lanes (3 x8 slots would be nice for 3 way SLi without overdoing it, maybe using a bridge chip to change those to x16 PCIe2), and a single QPI link. It's meant for single socket designs. We already know the quad channel memory config doesn't help anything. Triple channel memory would be fine. (Works fine for my 920.) I just hope it's not too overpriced.
    Reply
  • friskiest
    I honestly feel bad whenever I read Intel "leaks" and comparisons for their upcoming chips since they almost always deliver on the promise and hype,.

    AMD so far never get past the hype with its Bulldozer,. a repeat performance from their Piledriver should essentially seal off AMD from the x86 market.

    To AMD,. please give us the same joy with the release of Athlon 64,.
    Alot probably gave up on you,. but there's always a second chance..
    Reply
  • doron
    dgingeriPersonally, I like the look of that SB-EN chip. It's not as overblown as the SB-E: 3 memory channels, 8 cores, 20MB cache, 24 PCIe3 lanes (3 x8 slots would be nice for 3 way SLi without overdoing it, maybe using a bridge chip to change those to x16 PCIe2), and a single QPI link. It's meant for single socket designs. We already know the quad channel memory config doesn't help anything. Triple channel memory would be fine. (Works fine for my 920.) I just hope it's not too overpriced.
    I really don't see the point of talking about the advantages / disadvantage of these platforms from an end-user perspective as these are meant for servers. Quad channel is really most beneficial for various server uses.
    Going back to the end-user, enthusiasts finally have the opportunity to create a rather large RAM-Disk thanks to 64gb support of the SB-E platform (thanks to quad channel config).
    Reply
  • I want a dual core 2600 with a 3 card FireGL solution and quad striped SSD configuration. I wonder what that would cost me? 10k for a workstation setup? It would no doubt be louder than crap but what a whopper that thing would be. The kind of research I could do on that baby though. Wow!
    Reply
  • newbie_mcnoob
    So this is where the two disabled cores from Sandy Bridge-E went.
    Reply
  • BSMonitor
    So this is where the two disabled cores from Sandy Bridge-E went.

    Yup!
    Reply
  • A true Bulldozer ....to bad it's running on lower Ghz compared to the 6core. What would be the difference if you overclock a 6 vs 8 core(starting from lower Ghz) not much I think. Nevertheless a beast and useful for professional applications since most of them still don't benefit from parallel GPU computing power.
    Reply
  • Rock_n_Rolla
    WOW! Looks very interesting! :-) Imagine installing TWO XEON E5-2600 procs on an EVGA SR3
    dual LGA2011 slot X79 mobo and OC it to 4.7ghz with 64 gigabyte of 2000+ mhz RAM and TWO
    Radeon 7970 3GB video cards on Xfire?.. That would make my After Effects / Sony Vegas Pro
    video editing, Cinema 4D renders and gaming experience more exciting and faster than ever!

    - Cant wait for EVGA's SR3 mobo and Intel's XEON E5-2600 release! :-)
    Reply