Xeon 656 vs E7-8870
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon E7 | no data |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | Intel | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Westmere-EX (2011) | Granite Rapids (2024−2026) |
| Release date | 3 April 2011 (15 years ago) | 2 February 2026 (less than a year ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $4,616 | $1,399 |
Detailed specifications
Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656 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 | 10 (Deca-Core) | 20 (Icosa-Core) |
| Performance-cores | no data | 20 |
| Threads | 20 | 40 |
| Base clock speed | 2.4 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2.8 GHz | 4.8 GHz |
| Bus type | QPI | no data |
| Bus rate | 6.4 GT/s | 0 GT/s |
| Multiplier | 18 | no data |
| L1 cache | 64 KB (per core) | 112 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 256 KB (per core) | 2 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 30 MB (shared) | 72 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 32 nm | Intel 3 nm |
| Die size | 513 mm2 | 2x 598 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 69 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 74 °C |
| Number of transistors | 2,600 million | no data |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | - | no data |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656 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 | 8 (Multiprocessor) | 1 |
| Socket | FCLGA1567,LGA1567 | FCLGA4710 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 210 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® AMX, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | - | + |
| vPro | no data | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | no data | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | - | + |
| Thermal Monitoring | + | - |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | no data | + |
| Deep Learning Boost | - | + |
Security technologies
Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| SGX | no data | - |
| OS Guard | no data | + |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR3 | DDR5(6400MT/s) |
| Maximum memory size | 4 TB | 4 TB |
| Max memory channels | 4 | 8 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 34.113 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | N/A | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E7-8870 and Xeon 656.
| PCIe version | no data | 5.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | no data | 128 |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 3 April 2011 | 2 February 2026 |
| Physical cores | 10 | 20 |
| Threads | 20 | 40 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 130 Watt | 210 Watt |
Xeon E7-8870 has 62% lower power consumption.
Xeon 656, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 14 years, and 100% more physical cores and 100% more threads.
We couldn't decide between Intel Xeon E7-8870 and Intel Xeon 656. We've got no test results to judge.
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