Xeon E5606 vs E5520

General info

Comparing Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	1956	2001
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Value for money	2.58	0.23
Market segment	Server	Server
Architecture codename	Gainestown (2009−2010)	Westmere-EP (2010−2011)
Release date	March 2009 (15 years old)	14 February 2011 (13 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)	$19	$46
Current price	$184 (9.7x MSRP)	$188 (4.1x MSRP)

Xeon E5520 has 1022% better value for money than Xeon E5606.

Technical specs

Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606 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	8	4
Base clock speed	2.26 GHz	2.13 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.53 GHz	0.13 GHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	8 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm
Die size	263 mm2	239 mm2
Maximum core temperature	72 °C	no data
Number of transistors	731 million	1,170 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606 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	FCLGA1366	FCLGA1366,LGA1366
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	80 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	no data	Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	no data	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	no data	-
Demand Based Switching	+	+
PAE	40 Bit	40 Bit
Status	Discontinued	Discontinued

Security technologies

Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	144 GB	288 GB
Max memory channels	3	3
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	25.6 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606.

PCIe version

no data

2.0

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.

E5520 outperforms E5606 by 6% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Advantages and disadvantages

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Performance score	1.64	1.54
Threads	8	4
Cost	$19	$46
Chip lithography	45 nm	32 nm

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5520 and Xeon E5606, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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