Xeon Gold 5120 vs E5-2680 v4

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	694	683
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	2.94	5.05
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	Intel Xeon (Desktop)	Intel Xeon Gold
Power efficiency	8.79	10.27
Architecture codename	Broadwell-EP (2016)	Skylake (server) (2017−2018)
Release date	20 June 2016 (8 years ago)	11 July 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$1,745	$1,555

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon Gold 5120 has 72% better value for money than Xeon E5-2680 v4.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120 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	14 (Tetradeca-Core)	14 (Tetradeca-Core)
Threads	28	28
Base clock speed	2.4 GHz	2.2 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.3 GHz	3.2 GHz
Bus type	QPI	no data
Bus rate	2 × 9.6 GT/s	no data
Multiplier	24	22
L1 cache	448 KB	896 KB
L2 cache	3.5 MB	14 MB
L3 cache	35 MB	19.25 MB
Chip lithography	14 nm	14 nm
Die size	306.18 mm2	no data
Maximum core temperature	86 °C	81 °C
Number of transistors	4700 Million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	+

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120 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 (Multiprocessor)	4 (Multiprocessor)
Socket	FCLGA2011	FCLGA3647
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	105 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX2	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	-

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120 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 E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR4-1600, DDR4-1866, DDR4-2133, DDR4-2400	DDR4-2400
Maximum memory size	1.5 TB	768 GB
Max memory channels	4	6
Maximum memory bandwidth	76.8 GB/s	115.212 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	40	48

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	11.15	11.40
Recency	20 June 2016	11 July 2017
Power consumption (TDP)	120 Watt	105 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Xeon Gold 5120, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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