Following on from last year's release of Haswell-based Xeon E3 v3 CPUs, Intel is today introducing the architecture for the more powerful Xeon E5 line of chips.
The Haswell-EP architecture is identified by the v3 suffix, replacing the v2 for Ivy Bridge Xeons, and Intel is bringing more than 20 processors to market, of which the majority will be available in retail form. Like their predecessors, a maximum of two can be installed in a single motherboard.
Keeping consistency between generations, the model number is kept the same - Xeon E5-2695 v3 (Haswell) vs. Xeon E5-2695 v2 (Ivy Bridge) - as is the price, but Intel is increasing the multi-core ability of the v3 processors by, in the main, adding two cores and four threads for the majority of new Xeons.
Mainstream E5-v3: more cores, more threads
As an example, the mainstream E5-2695 v3 now houses 14 cores and 28 threads, compared to 12/24 for the Ivy Bridge E5-2695 v2, with cache also bumped up from 30MB to 35MB. The Haswell architecture adds AVX 2.0 extensions for better performance in certain scenarios, as well.
The Xeon E5 v3 processors use the same blueprint adopted by the recently-introduced Core i7-5960X for the high-end consumer desktop. This means a change in socket to LGA 2011-3 and introduction of DDR4 memory, necessitating a complete platform upgrade. Based on the same platform as the consumer processor, there's every reason, if you're so inclined, these Xeons will work on the consumer X99 platform.
And something new: 16- and 18-core models
Meeting the needs of users who need enhanced performance in a two-socket system, therefore increasing performance density, the E5-v3 range is now headlined by 16- and 18-core models known as E5-2698-v3 and E5-2699-v3, respectively. Featuring up to 45MB of smart cache and able to crunch up to 36 threads at 2.3GHz, the wallet-stripping price, up to $4,115, makes them the most powerful and expensive Xeon E5s to date.
The new Haswell-EP-powered Xeon E5 v3 CPUs offer more cores, more cache, and a newer architecture which provides a modest increase in instructions-per-clock-cycle (IPC). The raft of processors are primed for applications that can take advantage of a greater number of cores and threads. Full specs are available at Intel.com.
