Xeon Gold 6256 vs E5-2680
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 6256 outperforms Xeon E5-2680 by a whopping 398% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 1092 | 144 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.82 | no data |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Xeon (Desktop) | no data |
| Power efficiency | 4.31 | 13.59 |
| Architecture codename | Sandy Bridge-EP (2012) | no data |
| Release date | 6 March 2012 (12 years ago) | 1 January 2020 (4 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,723 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256 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) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 16 | 24 |
| Base clock speed | 2.7 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz |
| Bus rate | 8 GT/s | no data |
| L1 cache | 64K (per core) | no data |
| L2 cache | 256K (per core) | no data |
| L3 cache | 20 MB (shared) | 33 MB |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Die size | 435 mm2 | no data |
| Maximum core temperature | 85 °C | 64 °C |
| Number of transistors | 2,270 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | - |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256 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 | no data |
| Socket | FCLGA2011 | FCLGA3647 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 205 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® AVX | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | - |
| 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 |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | - |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR4-2933 |
| Maximum memory size | 384 GB | 1 TB |
| Max memory channels | 4 | 6 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 51.2 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256.
| 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.
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 | 6.14 | 30.56 |
| Recency | 6 March 2012 | 1 January 2020 |
| Physical cores | 8 | 12 |
| Threads | 16 | 24 |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | 14 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 205 Watt |
Xeon E5-2680 has 57.7% lower power consumption.
Xeon Gold 6256, on the other hand, has a 397.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, 50% more physical cores and 50% more threads, and a 128.6% more advanced lithography process.
The Xeon Gold 6256 is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon E5-2680 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2680 and Xeon Gold 6256, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Similar processor comparisons
We picked several similar comparisons of processors in the same market segment and performance relatively close to those reviewed on this page.
