EPYC 7542 vs Xeon Gold 5120
Aggregate performance score
EPYC 7542 outperforms Xeon Gold 5120 by a whopping 149% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 684 | 162 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 5.07 | 5.11 |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon Gold | AMD EPYC |
| Power efficiency | 10.27 | 11.92 |
| Architecture codename | Skylake (server) (2017−2018) | Zen 2 (2017−2020) |
| Release date | 11 July 2017 (7 years ago) | 7 August 2019 (5 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,555 | $3,400 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
EPYC 7542 has 1% better value for money than Xeon Gold 5120.
Detailed specifications
Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542 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) | 32 (Dotriaconta-Core) |
| Threads | 28 | 64 |
| Base clock speed | 2.2 GHz | 2.9 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
| Multiplier | 22 | 29 |
| L1 cache | 896 KB | 2 MB |
| L2 cache | 14 MB | 16 MB |
| L3 cache | 19.25 MB | 128 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm, 14 nm |
| Die size | no data | 192 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 81 °C | no data |
| Number of transistors | no data | 4,800 million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | + |
| Unlocked multiplier | - | + |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542 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 | 4 (Multiprocessor) | 2 (Multiprocessor) |
| Socket | FCLGA3647 | SP3 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 105 Watt | 225 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.
| Instruction set extensions | Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 | no data |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | + | no data |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | no data |
| Speed Shift | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| TSX | + | - |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | - | no data |
| Precision Boost 2 | no data | + |
Security technologies
Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | no data |
| EDB | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542 are enumerated here.
| AMD-V | - | + |
| VT-d | + | no data |
| VT-x | + | no data |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4-2400 | DDR4 Eight-channel |
| Maximum memory size | 768 GB | 4 TiB |
| Max memory channels | 6 | 8 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 115.212 GB/s | 204.763 GB/s |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | no data |
| PCI Express lanes | 48 | no data |
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 | 11.40 | 28.33 |
| Recency | 11 July 2017 | 7 August 2019 |
| Physical cores | 14 | 32 |
| Threads | 28 | 64 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 7 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 105 Watt | 225 Watt |
Xeon Gold 5120 has 114.3% lower power consumption.
EPYC 7542, on the other hand, has a 148.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, 128.6% more physical cores and 128.6% more threads, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.
The EPYC 7542 is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon Gold 5120 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Gold 5120 and EPYC 7542, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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