In search of a CPU with goood performance at lower active core counts, but with enough cores to spread around for a virtualized environment (and still be affordable) led me to a closer look at the turbo speeds. One thing led to another (the "search" got a bit out of hand), and I ended up with the eye chart below.
My takeaway is that base clock speeds are no longer a good indicator, or at least a sufficient indicator, when comparing CPU's. The turbo speeds and capability of these CPU's must be considered to obtain a complete picture and and tells a more interesting story. In particular, the E5-2600 v4 appears to have significantly more headroom than v3. The v4's turbo-binning is also a bit more granular than V3 (not shown in the chart).
p.s. Apologies in advance for any errors; it's a bit of a slog to collect-collate-verify information from various sources. Corrections-suggestions appreciated; thanks in advance.
Primary sources:
[1] Intel® Processor Pricing, Intel, 31-Mar-2016.
[2] Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3 Product Family, Processor Specification Update, Intel, 10-Feb-2016.
[3] Introducing the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v4 Product Family, Intel, 31-Mar-2016.
[4] Intel ARK web site, Intel
Secondary sources:
[5] Turbo Boost 2.0 Frequency Bin upside by SKU, Patrick Kennedy, www.serverthehome.net, 1-Apr-2016.
[6] Intel Xeon E5 2600 v4 Broadwell-EP unmasked, Tarinder Sandhu, www.hexus.net, 31-Mar-2016.
Nominal precedence of sources for information in table (if it wasn't in the first source, try the second, if it wasn't there...)
- Technical: [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
- Price: [1], [3], [4]
edit: Add highlights to more easily distinguish v3 and v4 models.
edit2: Correct pricing (screwed up merging data from several sources). Primary source is Intel official prices list; italics indicates source is Intel press material or ARK.
edit3: Add sources.
edit4: Add D-series. NOTE: No turbo-boost details are available; assumption is that @max active cores, the per-core frequency and total clocks is directly related to the base frequency. Not necessarily a valid assumption (as can be seen from other processors), so take with a grain of salt (until-if detailed turbo-boost information is available for these CPUs).
My takeaway is that base clock speeds are no longer a good indicator, or at least a sufficient indicator, when comparing CPU's. The turbo speeds and capability of these CPU's must be considered to obtain a complete picture and and tells a more interesting story. In particular, the E5-2600 v4 appears to have significantly more headroom than v3. The v4's turbo-binning is also a bit more granular than V3 (not shown in the chart).
p.s. Apologies in advance for any errors; it's a bit of a slog to collect-collate-verify information from various sources. Corrections-suggestions appreciated; thanks in advance.
Primary sources:
[1] Intel® Processor Pricing, Intel, 31-Mar-2016.
[2] Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v3 Product Family, Processor Specification Update, Intel, 10-Feb-2016.
[3] Introducing the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v4 Product Family, Intel, 31-Mar-2016.
[4] Intel ARK web site, Intel
Secondary sources:
[5] Turbo Boost 2.0 Frequency Bin upside by SKU, Patrick Kennedy, www.serverthehome.net, 1-Apr-2016.
[6] Intel Xeon E5 2600 v4 Broadwell-EP unmasked, Tarinder Sandhu, www.hexus.net, 31-Mar-2016.
Nominal precedence of sources for information in table (if it wasn't in the first source, try the second, if it wasn't there...)
- Technical: [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]
- Price: [1], [3], [4]
edit: Add highlights to more easily distinguish v3 and v4 models.
edit2: Correct pricing (screwed up merging data from several sources). Primary source is Intel official prices list; italics indicates source is Intel press material or ARK.
edit3: Add sources.
edit4: Add D-series. NOTE: No turbo-boost details are available; assumption is that @max active cores, the per-core frequency and total clocks is directly related to the base frequency. Not necessarily a valid assumption (as can be seen from other processors), so take with a grain of salt (until-if detailed turbo-boost information is available for these CPUs).
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