Xeon Platinum 8481C vs Gold 5218
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 5218 outperforms Xeon Platinum 8481C by an impressive 86% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 701 | 1209 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 3.38 | no data |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon Gold | no data |
| Power efficiency | 10.55 | 2.02 |
| Designer | Intel | Intel |
| Manufacturer | no data | Intel |
| Architecture codename | Cascade Lake (2019−2020) | Sapphire Rapids (2023−2024) |
| Release date | 2 April 2019 (6 years ago) | 10 January 2023 (2 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,273 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Performance to price scatter graph
Detailed specifications
Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C 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) | 56 (Hexapentaconta-Core) |
| Threads | 32 | 112 |
| Base clock speed | 2.3 GHz | 2 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 3.9 GHz | 3.8 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 3.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 4 × 8 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 23 | no data |
| L1 cache | 1 MB | 80 KB (per core) |
| L2 cache | 16 MB | 2 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 22 MB | 105 MB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 10 nm |
| Die size | no data | 4x 477 mm2 |
| Maximum core temperature | 87 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 79 °C |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | no data |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C 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 |
| Socket | FCLGA3647 | 4677 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 350 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C. 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 | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | + | no data |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | no data |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | no data |
| TSX | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | - | no data |
| Deep Learning Boost | + | - |
Security technologies
Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | no data |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | no data |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4-2667 | DDR5 |
| Maximum memory size | 1 TB | no data |
| Max memory channels | 6 | no data |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 128.001 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | N/A |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 5218 and Xeon Platinum 8481C.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 48 | 80 |
Synthetic benchmarks
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.
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. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 12.27 | 6.59 |
| Recency | 2 April 2019 | 10 January 2023 |
| Physical cores | 16 | 56 |
| Threads | 32 | 112 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 10 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 125 Watt | 350 Watt |
Xeon Gold 5218 has a 86.2% higher aggregate performance score, and 180% lower power consumption.
Xeon Platinum 8481C, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 3 years, 250% more physical cores and 250% more threads, and a 40% more advanced lithography process.
The Intel Xeon Gold 5218 is our recommended choice as it beats the Intel Xeon Platinum 8481C in performance tests.
Other comparisons
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