Intel Launches New Xeon E CPUs for Workstations

Intel Launches New Xeon E CPUs for Workstations

Intel announced a new processor series, the new Xeon E processors. The new series is designed for the lower end of the workstation market in comparison to the Xeon W which aims at the high-end. Professional users, designers, and content creators are the target audience for these new processors which come with up to six cores and twelve threads.

Xeon E’s Arrives in 10 Versions

There’s a total of 10 new SKUs in the Xeon E series which all have some things in common. They all feature 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU and chipset as well as memory support for DDR4-2666.

There are four different 6-core/12-thread processors and three 4-core/8-thread processors as well as three non-hyper-threaded chips. The latter is made up of a 6-core and two 4-core processors.

Most of them have 12MB SmartCache, but there are a couple with 8MB. There are versions without iGPU and some who come with Intel UHD Graphics 630. So there should be just the right match for your setup, at least if you’re shopping in this market segment. The TDP variates from 71W to 95W.

What else is there to know?

The new Xeon E processors will use the C42x chipsets and the familiar LGA1151 socket. This places them in the same category as the previous Xeon E3 chips.

Like the bigger brother, the Intel Scalable Platform, the new processors are built on Intel’s Mesh Architecture and rebalanced cache hierarchy. It’s a more efficient design than the Ring Bus found in processors destined for desktop PCs. Naturally, there is ECC memory support on this platform too which is one of the main differences to desktop-class processors. There’s also support USB 3.1 Gen.2 and Thunderbolt 3.

Features

• Up to 6 cores and 12 threads
• Up to 4.70 GHz using Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• Available with Intel UHD Graphics 630 supporting 4K UHD with built-in HEVC 10-bit hardware acceleration delivers enhanced 4K media decoding and encoding
• Up to 64 GB DDR4 ECC 2666 MHz
• Up to 40 lanes of PCIe for graphics, storage and network expandability
• Support for USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt technology
• Support for Intel Optane memory for a faster, smoother and amazingly responsive computing experience
• Advanced hardware-enhanced security with Intel vPro technology and enhanced Intel Software Guard Extensions Support for Intel Ethernet and Intel Wireless-AC networking

Pricing and Availability

The new processors should be available now, but I couldn’t find them listed yet. That probably means that they’re on their way to and from the distribution centres. OEM systems from all the usual partners will follow shortly.