Xeon Gold 6246 vs i7-5960X
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 6246 outperforms Core i7-5960X by an impressive 65% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1125 | 683 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.93 | 1.32 |
| Market segment | Desktop processor | Server |
| Series | Core i7 (Desktop) | Intel Xeon Gold |
| Power efficiency | 2.35 | 3.30 |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | Intel | no data |
| Architecture codename | Haswell-E (2014) | Cascade Lake (2019−2020) |
| Release date | 1 September 2014 (11 years ago) | 2 April 2019 (6 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $999 | $3,286 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Xeon Gold 6246 has 42% better value for money than i7-5960X.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246 basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 8 (Octa-Core) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 16 | 24 |
| Base clock speed | 3 GHz | 3.3 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.5 GHz | 4.2 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | DMI 3.0 |
| Bus rate | 0 GT/s | 4 × 8 GT/s |
| Multiplier | no data | 33 |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 768 KB |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 12 MB |
| L3 cache | 20 MB (shared) | 24.75 MB |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 356 mm2 | no data |
| Maximum core temperature | 67 °C | 76 °C |
| Number of transistors | 2,600 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | + | - |
Compatibility
Information on Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246 compatibility with other computer components: motherboard (look for socket type), power supply unit (look for power consumption) etc. Useful when planning a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. Note that power consumption of some processors can well exceed their nominal TDP, even without overclocking. Some can even double their declared thermals given that the motherboard allows to tune the CPU power parameters.
| Number of CPUs in a configuration | 1 | 4 (Multiprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA2011 | FCLGA3647 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 165 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2 | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | + | + |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Smart Response | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | - | no data |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | - |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| Identity Protection | + | - |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4 | DDR4-2933 |
| Maximum memory size | 64 GB | 1 TB |
| Max memory channels | 4 | 6 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 68 GB/s | 140.8 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | - | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Core i7-5960X and Xeon Gold 6246.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 40 | 48 |
Synthetic benchmarks
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 7.80 | 12.88 |
| Recency | 1 September 2014 | 2 April 2019 |
| Physical cores | 8 | 12 |
| Threads | 16 | 24 |
| Chip lithography | 22 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 165 Watt |
i7-5960X has 17.9% lower power consumption.
Xeon Gold 6246, on the other hand, has a 65.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, 50% more physical cores and 50% more threads, and a 57.1% more advanced lithography process.
The Intel Xeon Gold 6246 is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Core i7-5960X in performance tests.
Note that Core i7-5960X is a desktop processor while Xeon Gold 6246 is a server/workstation one.
Other comparisons
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