Apple M2 Pro vs Xeon E5-1603
Aggregate performance score
M2 Pro outperforms Xeon E5-1603 by a whopping 530% 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 | 2162 | 713 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Server | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Apple Apple M-Series |
| Power efficiency | 0.65 | no data |
| Designer | Intel | Apple |
| Release date | 1 January 2012 (14 years ago) | 17 January 2023 (3 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Basic parameters of Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro: 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) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 4 | 12 |
| Base clock speed | 2.8 GHz | 2.424 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 3.5 GHz |
| Bus rate | 0 GT/s | no data |
| L1 cache | no data | 3.3 MB |
| L2 cache | no data | 36 MB |
| L3 cache | 10 MB | 24 MB |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 5 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 64 °C | no data |
| Number of transistors | no data | 40000 Million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | no data |
| VID voltage range | 0.6V - 1.35V | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro 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 | no data |
| Socket | FCLGA2011 | no data |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | W |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX | no data |
| AES-NI | + | - |
| vPro | + | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | - | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | - | no data |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Flex Memory Access | + | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | + | no data |
Security technologies
Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3-800, DDR3-1066 | no data |
| Maximum memory size | 375 GB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 4 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 31.4 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Apple M2 Pro 19-Core GPU |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-1603 and M2 Pro.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 40 | no data |
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 | 1.99 | 12.54 |
| Recency | 1 January 2012 | 17 January 2023 |
| Physical cores | 4 | 12 |
| Threads | 4 | 12 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 5 nm |
Apple M2 Pro has a 530% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, 200% more physical cores and 200% more threads, and a 540% more advanced lithography process.
The Apple M2 Pro is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Xeon E5-1603 in performance tests.
Be aware that Xeon E5-1603 is a server/workstation processor while Apple M2 Pro is a notebook one.
Other comparisons
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