Xeon Gold 6246 vs Gold 5218

Primary details

Comparing Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	461	378
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	10.25	7.60
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	Intel Xeon Gold	Intel Xeon Gold
Architecture codename	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)
Release date	2 April 2019 (5 years ago)	2 April 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$1,273	$3,286
Current price	$1412 (1.1x MSRP)	$2260 (0.7x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon Gold 5218 has 35% better value for money than Xeon Gold 6246.

Detailed specifications

Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246 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	16 (Hexadeca-Core)	12 (Dodeca-Core)
Threads	32	24
Base clock speed	2.3 GHz	3.3 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.9 GHz	4.2 GHz
Bus support	4 × 8 GT/s	4 × 8 GT/s
L1 cache	1 MB	768 KB
L2 cache	16 MB	12 MB
L3 cache	22 MB	24.75 MB
Chip lithography	14 nm	14 nm
Maximum core temperature	87 °C	76 °C
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	+	+
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246 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)	4 (Multiprocessor)
Socket	FCLGA3647	FCLGA3647
Power consumption (TDP)	125 Watt	165 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246. 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	Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
vPro	+	+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	2.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
TSX	+	+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	-	-
Status	Launched	Launched

Security technologies

Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR4-2667	DDR4-2933
Maximum memory size	1 TB	1 TB
Max memory channels	6	6
Maximum memory bandwidth	128.001 GB/s	140.8 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	48	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.

Gold 6246 outperforms Gold 5218 by 13% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	14.21	16.05
Physical cores	16	12
Threads	32	24
Cost	$1273	$3286
Power consumption (TDP)	125 Watt	165 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Gold 6246, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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