Xeon Gold 6538N vs E5 1680 v4
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 6538N outperforms Xeon E5 1680 v4 by a whopping 216% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 855 | 164 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 1.90 | 21.90 |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon E5 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 6.05 | 13.05 |
| Architecture codename | Broadwell-EP (2016) | Emerald Rapids (2023) |
| Release date | 20 June 2016 (8 years ago) | 14 December 2023 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,723 | $3,351 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Xeon Gold 6538N has 1053% better value for money than Xeon E5 1680 v4.
Detailed specifications
Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N 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) | 32 (Dotriaconta-Core) |
| Threads | 16 | 64 |
| Base clock speed | 3.4 GHz | 2.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4 GHz | 4.1 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 2.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 5 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 34 | no data |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | 80 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | 2 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 20 MB (shared) | 60 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | Intel 7 nm |
| Die size | 246.24 mm2 | 2x 763 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | 70 °C | 85 °C |
| Number of transistors | 3,400 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N 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 (Uniprocessor) | 2 |
| Socket | FCLGA2011 | FCLGA4677 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 205 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX2 | Intel® AMX, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | + | + |
| Idle States | + | no data |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Flex Memory Access | - | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | + | no data |
| PAE | 46 Bit | no data |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | + | no data |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | + | no data |
| Identity Protection | + | - |
| SGX | no data | Yes with Intel® SPS |
| OS Guard | + | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4-1600, DDR4-1866, DDR4-2133, DDR4-2400 | DDR5-5200 |
| Maximum memory size | 1.5 TB | 4 TB |
| Max memory channels | 4 | 8 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 76.8 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 40 | 80 |
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 8.95 | 28.26 |
| Recency | 20 June 2016 | 14 December 2023 |
| Physical cores | 8 | 32 |
| Threads | 16 | 64 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 140 Watt | 205 Watt |
Xeon E5 1680 v4 has 46.4% lower power consumption.
Xeon Gold 6538N, on the other hand, has a 215.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, and 300% more physical cores and 300% more threads.
The Xeon Gold 6538N is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon E5 1680 v4 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5 1680 v4 and Xeon Gold 6538N, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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