Xeon E5-2603 vs E5-2609

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	2020	2179
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.86	0.38
Market segment	Server	Server
Power efficiency	2.13	1.73
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge-EP (2012)	Sandy Bridge-EP (2012)
Release date	6 March 2012 (12 years ago)	6 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$143	$207

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon E5-2609 has 126% better value for money than Xeon E5-2603.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603 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)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	4	4
Base clock speed	2.4 GHz	1.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.4 GHz	1.8 GHz
Bus rate	6.4 GT/s	6.4 GT/s
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	10240 KB (shared)	10240 KB (shared)
Chip lithography	32 nm	32 nm
Die size	294 mm2	294 mm2
Maximum core temperature	70 °C	70 °C
Number of transistors	1,270 million	1,270 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603 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	2
Socket	FCLGA2011	FCLGA2011
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	80 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	Intel® AVX
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	-	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	-	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	-	-
Demand Based Switching	+	+

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	384 GB	384 GB
Max memory channels	4	4
Maximum memory bandwidth	34.1 GB/s	34.1 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	40	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.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score

1.80

1.46

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2609 and Xeon E5-2603, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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