Xeon E5-2603 vs Silver 4208

Primary details

Comparing Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in performance ranking	920	2058
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	23.54	0.37
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	Intel Xeon Silver	no data
Architecture codename	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)	Sandy Bridge-EP (2012)
Release date	2 April 2019 (5 years ago)	6 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$417	$207
Current price	$254 (0.6x MSRP)	$51 (0.2x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon Silver 4208 has 6262% better value for money than Xeon E5-2603.

Detailed specifications

Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603 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	8 (Octa-Core)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	16	4
Base clock speed	2.1 GHz	1.8 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.2 GHz	1.8 GHz
L1 cache	512 KB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	8 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	11 MB	10240 KB (shared)
Chip lithography	14 nm	32 nm
Die size	no data	294 mm2
Maximum core temperature	78 °C	70 °C
Number of transistors	no data	1,270 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	+	-
Unlocked multiplier	No	No

Compatibility

Information on Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603 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 (Multiprocessor)	2
Socket	FCLGA3647	FCLGA2011
Power consumption (TDP)	85 Watt	80 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603. 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® AVX
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
vPro	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
TSX	+	no data
Idle States	no data	+
Thermal Monitoring	no data	+
Flex Memory Access	no data	-
Demand Based Switching	no data	+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	-	no data
Status	Launched	Discontinued

Security technologies

Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+
Identity Protection	no data	-

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR4-2400	DDR3
Maximum memory size	1 TB	384 GB
Max memory channels	6	4
Maximum memory bandwidth	115.212 GB/s	34.1 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	48	40

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.

Silver 4208 outperforms E5-2603 by 387% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	7.31	1.50
Recency	2 April 2019	6 March 2012
Physical cores	8	4
Threads	16	4
Cost	$417	$207
Chip lithography	14 nm	32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	85 Watt	80 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Silver 4208 and Xeon E5-2603, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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