Xeon D-1521 vs E5-2420
Aggregate performance score
Xeon D-1521 outperforms Xeon E5-2420 by a moderate 13% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1607 | 1509 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 1.03 | 2.60 |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | no data | Intel Xeon D |
| Power efficiency | 3.16 | 7.53 |
| Architecture codename | Sandy Bridge-EN (2012) | Broadwell (2015−2019) |
| Release date | 14 May 2012 (12 years ago) | 1 November 2015 (9 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $390 | $199 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Xeon D-1521 has 152% better value for money than Xeon E5-2420.
Detailed specifications
Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521 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 | 6 (Hexa-Core) | 4 (Quad-Core) |
| Threads | 12 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | 1.9 GHz | 2.4 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.4 GHz | 2.7 GHz |
| Bus type | no data | DMI 2.0 |
| Bus rate | 7.2 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | no data | 24 |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (per core) | 256K (per core) |
| L3 cache | 15360 KB (shared) | 1.5 MB (per core) |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 294 mm2 | 246.24 mm2 |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 80 °C |
| Number of transistors | 1,270 million | 3,200 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | - |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521 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 | 2 | 1 (Uniprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA1356 | FCBGA1667 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 45 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX | Intel® AVX2 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | - | + |
| Idle States | + | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | + |
| Flex Memory Access | - | no data |
| Demand Based Switching | + | no data |
| GPIO | no data | + |
Security technologies
Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| Secure Key | no data | + |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4, DDR3 |
| Maximum memory size | 384 GB | 128 GB |
| Max memory channels | 3 | 2 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 32 GB/s | 34.124 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 2.0/3.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 24 | 24 |
| USB revision | no data | 2.0/3.0 |
| Total number of SATA ports | no data | 6 |
| Number of USB ports | no data | 8 |
| Integrated LAN | no data | + |
| UART | no data | + |
Synthetic benchmark performance
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. 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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 3.17 | 3.58 |
| Recency | 14 May 2012 | 1 November 2015 |
| Physical cores | 6 | 4 |
| Threads | 12 | 8 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt | 45 Watt |
Xeon E5-2420 has 50% more physical cores and 50% more threads.
Xeon D-1521, on the other hand, has a 12.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 128.6% more advanced lithography process, and 111.1% lower power consumption.
The Xeon D-1521 is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon E5-2420 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon D-1521, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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