Comparing 4 core and 16 Core Xeon D-2100 D-1500 and Atom C3000

[Patrick]

Since the new Intel Xeon D-2100 goes from 4-18 cores, however, the 18 core part is "limited supply" I wanted to take a second and compare Xeon D-2183IT and Xeon D-2123IT numbers with the Intel Xeon D-1587, Xeon D-1518, and the Intel Atom C3955/C3958, Atom C3558.

Essentially, 4 and 16 core models from each embedded generation.


In terms of power, just as some perspective, from our Supermicro A2SDi-16C-HLN4F review we had under 50W as our max figure for the Atom C3955. Idle on the Xeon D-2183IT platform is around 60W (albeit with additional NICs and more platform PCIe.)

 

[Deslok]

Can we have some Atom C2xxx chips in the comparison as well?

 

[Patrick]

I will do you one better. Added Atom C2000 4 and 8 core (no 16 core available.) EPYC added 8, 16 and 24 core single socket options as well:

 

[Patrick]

Let's get crazy here for a second

 

[Deslok]

I will do you one better. Added Atom C2000 4 and 8 core (no 16 core available.) EPYC added 8, 16 and 24 core single socket options as well:
View attachment 7833

as someone with c2750 and c2550 equipment this looks amazing

 

[Patrick]

I know there are some sites opining that the new Xeon D-2100 series is going to be the top dog in home lab servers.

This (combined with power consumption) is why I am not 100% sold on that idea.

The Xeon E3 line has GPU options which are realistically the way to go if you want to transcode video.

If you want a virtualization home lab, the Xeon Silver 4110 is likely enough CPU, if not the 4116 surely is. The Silver 4116 uses 20% less power even with two extra DIMMs installed so more RAM. I think that the virtualization benefits in most home labs from being able to use 6x16GB RDIMMs is substantial and there is a 12x 16GB option without having to move up to more expensive 32GB RDIMMs.

If you want crazy I/O or higher-end compute in your virtualization server, EPYC 7351P or 7401P.

Atom is the clear low power leader.

Xeon D-1500 I think is still a recommendation if you want low power and a small form factor (e.g. a step down from the Xeon Silver line.)

For the Intel Xeon D-2100 series, I think you need to be constrained to a small form factor (mITX or FlexATX since there are LGA3647 mATX boards available.) You need to have CPU performance/ RAM/ PCIe/ SATA I/O needs beyond what the Xeon D-1500/ Atom series gives you -OR- you have a burning need to stay instruction set compatible with Xeon Scalable (e.g. if you are live migrating from home to a DC.)

I think there are certainly a lot of use cases out there in the embedded world. The other elephant in the room is that for a home lab, Xeon E5 V3 / V4 are quite affordable since you are paying used v. new prices these days.

I should probably write the above up for a main site post.

 

[Deslok]

I know there are some sites opining that the new Xeon D-2100 series is going to be the top dog in home lab servers.

This (combined with power consumption) is why I am not 100% sold on that idea.

The Xeon E3 line has GPU options which are realistically the way to go if you want to transcode video.

If you want a virtualization home lab, the Xeon Silver 4110 is likely enough CPU, if not the 4116 surely is. The Silver 4116 uses 20% less power even with two extra DIMMs installed so more RAM. I think that the virtualization benefits in most home labs from being able to use 6x16GB RDIMMs is substantial and there is a 12x 16GB option without having to move up to more expensive 32GB RDIMMs.

If you want crazy I/O or higher-end compute in your virtualization server, EPYC 7351P or 7401P.

Atom is the clear low power leader.

Xeon D-1500 I think is still a recommendation if you want low power and a small form factor (e.g. a step down from the Xeon Silver line.)

For the Intel Xeon D-2100 series, I think you need to be constrained to a small form factor (mITX or FlexATX since there are LGA3647 mATX boards available.) You need to have CPU performance/ RAM/ PCIe/ SATA I/O needs beyond what the Xeon D-1500/ Atom series gives you -OR- you have a burning need to stay instruction set compatible with Xeon Scalable (e.g. if you are live migrating from home to a DC.)

I think there are certainly a lot of use cases out there in the embedded world. The other elephant in the room is that for a home lab, Xeon E5 V3 / V4 are quite affordable since you are paying used v. new prices these days.

I should probably write the above up for a main site post.

Do we have any pricing information on the boards with the new 2100 series chips yet? I think that is really going to be the deciding factor. I know I've been looking at D-1500 for some new installs because of the onboard 10GBe which D-2100 offers more of. If the X11SDV-8C-TP8F comes in near the price of the X10SDV-7TP4F there aren't a ton reasons I can recommend the older platform(unless the wattage is a significant issue)

 

[Patrick]

@Deslok I do not believe they have been shared. Perhaps one could look at the list price of Xeon D-1500 chips and subtract from list price of motherboards to get a rough estimate of how much more over chip list price the platforms would be.

 

[Deslok]

@Deslok I do not believe they have been shared. Perhaps one could look at the list price of Xeon D-1500 chips and subtract from list price of motherboards to get a rough estimate of how much more over chip list price the platforms would be.

Excellent point, looks like a 70 dollar increase between the two on ark Intel® Product Specification Comparison
but those two particularity there isn't the need for a LSI controller(although the newer board has a few less sata ports because of this) with otherwise similar features I'd hope the price change is a wash.

 

[eva2000]

nice numbers @Patrick - need a performance/compiles per watt comparison too

 

[Rand__]

nice numbers @Patrick - need a performance/compiles per watt comparison too

+1

 

[T_Minus]

Throw in some of those V3 and V4 for us to compare too since so many of us have those

 

[Evan]

Throw in some of those V3 and V4 for us to compare too since so many of us have those

2640v4 would be good

 

[Evan]

If you want a virtualization home lab, the Xeon Silver 4110 is likely enough CPU, if not the 4116 surely is. The Silver 4116 uses 20% less power even with two extra DIMMs installed so more RAM. I think that the virtualization benefits in most home labs from being able to use 6x16GB RDIMMs is substantial and there is a 12x 16GB option without having to move up to more expensive 32GB RDIMMs.

Am I reading it right that the silver scalable is more efficient than the d-2100 ?

I don’t mind 32gb dimm but more d-2100 only have 4 slots anyway (supermicro atleast), that’s only 128gb which isn’t all that much these days.

 

[Rand__]

2640v4 would be good

Thats neither a 4 nor 16 core SKU so does not really fit, does it

 

[Evan]

Thats neither a 4 nor 16 core SKU so does not really fit, does it

No not really but neither 4 or 16 cores were popular in the e5 line of the time...

Ok I used a lot of 2637 v3/v4 for high core license cost applications like oracle DB

14 core e5-2680v4 ?

 

[Deslok]

No not really but neither 4 or 16 cores were popular in the e5 line of the time...

Ok I used a lot of 2637 v3/v4 for high core license cost applications like oracle DB

14 core e5-2680v4 ?

comparing a cpu that isn't 4 or 16 cores introduces additional variables. as it stands locking the core count shows generational changes (it's a shame we can't lock everything at one clock rate like toms did for further comparison)

 

[Evan]

comparing a cpu that isn't 4 or 16 cores introduces additional variables. as it stands locking the core count shows generational changes (it's a shame we can't lock everything at one clock rate like toms did for further comparison)

Yeah I do realize that, other option may be use an v3/v4 8-core, either way it’s pretty impressive how powerful the new Xeon-D is and I guess that being pushed by some requirement from the likes of Facebook and maybe a realization that they can’t make a true low power Xeon platform and leave that to the c3000 systems.

 

[Deslok]

Yeah I do realize that, other option may be use an v3/v4 8-core, either way it’s pretty impressive how powerful the new Xeon-D is and I guess that being pushed by some requirement from the likes of Facebook and maybe a realization that they can’t make a true low power Xeon platform and leave that to the c3000 systems.

There are 4 and 16 core chips in those lines
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2623 v4 and Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2637 v4 are on ARK as 4 core and Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2683 v4 is a 16 core chip

 

[mstone]

Yeah I do realize that, other option may be use an v3/v4 8-core, either way it’s pretty impressive how powerful the new Xeon-D is and I guess that being pushed by some requirement from the likes of Facebook and maybe a realization that they can’t make a true low power Xeon platform and leave that to the c3000 systems.

I think they've proved the opposite: they can make a low power system, they just don't want to because it's more profitable to make people buy bigger systems. When they were worried that low powered ARM servers might eat their lunch they came out with silvermont, and when it became clear that wasn't going to happen they lost interest. At this point it seems like their low power efforts are just there to make sure they can ramp something up if a competitor threatens, but not something they have an interest in selling. You can buy a consumer-line goldmont motherboard+cpu today for about $50. Why is the equivalent goldmont server part so hard to find? Answer: intel doesn't want low price server options to exist, because a heck of a lot of people buying $3-5k servers would be just as happy with $500 servers. If you don't particularly want to sell a small xeon-d, why even bother designing it?