Xeon E7-2870 vs E3-1220

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	1660	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.21	no data
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	no data	Intel Xeon E7
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge (2011−2013)	Westmere (2010−2011)
Release date	3 April 2011 (13 years ago)	5 April 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$395	$4,227
Current price	$98 (0.2x MSRP)	$495 (0.1x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870 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)	10 (Deca-Core)
Threads	4	20
Base clock speed	3.1 GHz	2.4 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.4 GHz	2.8 GHz
Bus support	no data	6.4 GT/s
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	640 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	2.56 MB
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	30 MB
Chip lithography	32 nm	32 nm
Die size	216 mm2	513 mm2
Maximum core temperature	69 °C	69 °C
Number of transistors	1,160 million	2600 Million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870 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	LGA1155	LGA1567
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	130 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	1.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	+
Idle States	+	no data
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	no data
FDI	-	no data
Fast Memory Access	+	no data
Status	Discontinued	Discontinued

Security technologies

Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+
Identity Protection	+	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3-800, DDR3-978, DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333, Speed-1066
Maximum memory size	32 GB	1 TB
Max memory channels	2	4
Maximum memory bandwidth	21 GB/s	34.113 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870.

PCIe version	2.0	no data
PCI Express lanes	20	no data

Pros & cons summary

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Physical cores	4	10
Threads	4	20
Cost	$395	$4227
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	130 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E3-1220 and Xeon E7-2870, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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