Xeon E5-2603 v4 vs E3-1220 v2

General info

Comparing Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	1522	1517
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Value for money	7.12	1.92
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	no data	Intel Xeon E5
Architecture codename	Ivy Bridge (2012−2013)	Broadwell (2015−2019)
Release date	14 May 2012 (11 years old)	20 June 2016 (7 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)	$220	$213
Current price	$50 (0.2x MSRP)	$169 (0.8x MSRP)

Value for money

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon E3-1220 v2 has 271% better value for money than Xeon E5-2603 v4.

Technical specs

Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4 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	4 (Quad-Core)	6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads	4	6
Base clock speed	3.1 GHz	1.7 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.5 GHz	1.7 GHz
Bus support	no data	2 × 6.4 GT/s
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	no data
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	1.5 MB
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	15 MB
Chip lithography	22 nm	14 nm
Die size	160 mm2	246.24 mm2
Maximum core temperature	no data	73 °C
Number of transistors	1,400 million	3200 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4 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	2
Socket	FCLGA1155	FCLGA2011
Power consumption (TDP)	69 Watt	85 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	Intel® AVX2
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
vPro	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	-
TSX	-	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	-
Demand Based Switching	+	+
PAE	no data	46 Bit
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Status	Discontinued	Discontinued

Security technologies

Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	no data	+
Identity Protection	+	-
OS Guard	no data	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4 are enumerated here.

VT-d	+	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR4-1600, DDR4-1866
Maximum memory size	32.77 GB	1.5 TB
Max memory channels	2	4
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	59.7 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	no data	40

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

E5-2603 v4 outperforms E3-1220 v2 by 1% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Advantages and disadvantages

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Performance score	3.05	3.07
Recency	14 May 2012	20 June 2016
Physical cores	4	6
Threads	4	6
Cost	$220	$213
Chip lithography	22 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	69 Watt	85 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E3-1220 v2 and Xeon E5-2603 v4, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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