Intel Xeon 5600-Series: Can Your PC Use 24 Processors?

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The professional space is peppered with products derived from the desktop. Today we're looking at Intel's Xeon X5680 CPUs, which look a lot like Core i7-980X, only they're optimized for dual-socket platforms. We're also introducing new Adobe CS5 tests.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

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Test Hardware
Processors2 x Intel Xeon X5680 (Westmere-EP) 3.33 GHz, LGA 1366, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 1 - Cell 0 2 x Intel Xeon W5580 (Nehalem-EP) 3.2 GHz, LGA 1366, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 2 - Cell 0 1 x Intel Core i7-980 Extreme (Gulftown) 3.33 GHz, LGA 1366, 6.4 GT/s QPI, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardsIntel S5520SCR (LGA 1366) Intel 5520/ICH10R, BIOS 50;53;28;112
MemoryKingston 12 GB (12 x 1 GB) DDR3-1333 ECC Unbuffered, KVR1333D3E9SK3/3G x 4
Hard Drive2 x Intel SSDSA2M160G2GC 160 GB SATA 3 Gb/s
GraphicsNvidia Quadro FX 3800
Power SupplyChicony CPB09-003A 1000 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverQuadro Driver 258.49
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Benchmarks and Settings
Video Encoding
TMPGEnc 4.7Version: 4.7.3.292, Import File: "Terminator II" SE DVD (5 Minutes), Resolution: 720x576 (PAL) 16:9
DivX 6.9.2Encoding mode: Insane Quality, Enhanced Multi-Threading, Enabled using SSE4, Quarter-pixel search
Xvid 1.2.2Display encoding status=off
HandBrake 0.9.4Version 0.9.4, convert first .vob file from The Last Samurai to .mp4, High Profile
Applications
Adobe After EffectsCS4 And CS5; Custom Workload, SD project with three picture-in-picture frames, source video at 720p
Adobe PhotoshopCS4 And CS5; Custom Workload, Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates filters
Adobe Premiere ProCS4 And CS5; Custom Workload, 1280x720p, 59.94 FPS video, Panasonic DVCPro100, HVX-200 camcorder on P2 media, Render to Work Area.
Adobe Media EncoderCustom Workload, Encode Premiere Pro project to h.264 for Blu-ray
e-on Software Vue 8 PLE1920x1080 landscape render, Global Illumination enabled
NewTek LightWave 3D 9.6Custom Workload, high-poly Tom's Hardware logo; clone surface detail across logo (Modeler, script); OpenGL preview of 600-frame animation of Tom's Hardware logo (Layout); 1.68 million polygon render of four captured frames using motion blur, ray-traced shadows, global illumination.
Euler3DCFD simulation over NACA 445.6 aeroelastic test wing at Mach .5
Autodesk MatchMover 2011Custom workload, 720p camera footage tracked in 3D space
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
SPECapc LightWave 9.6LightWave 3D Discovery Edition, Render and MT benchmark scores
SPECviewperf 11Default GUI options; Workloads: CATIA, EnSight, LightWave, Maya, Pro/E, SolidWorks, Teamcenter Visualization Mockup, NX
SiSoftware Sandra 2010CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/Multimedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark, Cryptography
Cinebench 11.5CPU and GPU tests, Built-in benchmark
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.
62 Comments Comment from the forums
  • one-shot
    Or 24 Logical cores, not really Processors.
    Reply
  • Zerk
    24 threads, 12 cores.

    A+ Excellent Review.
    Reply
  • enzo matrix
    one-shotOr 24 Logical CPUs, not really Processors.Misleading title. I was excited because I assumed intel had finally come out with 12-core server CPUs.
    Reply
  • Tamz_msc
    I was expecting an even better performance from these CPUs.The performance is still limited by the software you use.
    Reply
  • shin0bi272
    Enzo MatrixMisleading title. I was excited because I assumed intel had finally come out with 12-core server CPUs.they could have gone 4x 6 core cpus without HT too.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    Enzo MatrixMisleading title. I was excited because I assumed intel had finally come out with 12-core server CPUs.
    The Xeon 5600-series tops out with 6 cores and 12 threads, yielding 24 logical processors between two sockets. =)
    Reply
  • wh3resmycar
    So many cpu's in task manager...do all but 1 go unused running a single threaded app? shame intel had to go this route with more cores instead of making single core with hyper-threading work faster. you should really only need 2 logical cpu's and hyper threading accomplishes it with 1.

    i have a feeling you dont understand what the word "workstation" means.
    Reply
  • Hyper threading was kind of cool back in the P4 days, but now I don't see the point. Virtually nothing that >people actually use< has any benefit to see from it.. It just makes for cool screenshots imo..

    I guess what this review says is that, if you want performance for stuff you do at home you should pretty much just get a Nehalem i7 6c with some fast ram. The xeons seems to be behind on everything multimedia, much as expected.
    Reply
  • Otus
    cangeliniThe Xeon 5600-series tops out with 6 cores and 12 threads, yielding 24 logical processors between two sockets. =)You should have written "logical processors" or "logical cores" and no one would have argued.
    mheagerNot true. Hyper threading makes it so if one app gets stuck in an endless loop it doesn't suck up all the cpu and freeze the computer.The OS can do that even on a single core with no HT. Not to mention the case with many physical cores which non-HT CPUs have nowadays.
    Reply
  • kokin
    mheagerNot true. Hyper threading makes it so if one app gets stuck in an endless loop it doesn't suck up all the cpu and freeze the computer.But why should it get stuck in an endless loop with all that computing power?
    Reply