Intel Xeon Gold 6146 12-Core/24-Thread Processor Review

Intel Xeon Scalable Platform

The way we process and utilise data has changed a lot in recent years. Our hardware has to follow the same trend in order to keep up with the demands for flexible compute, networking, and storage. Especially scaling is a thing that’s very important, but as the name suggests, that’s what Intel’s Scalable Processors are good at.

The exponential growth of data generation and consumption, the rapid expansion of cloud-scale computing, emerging 5G networks, and the extension of high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) into new usages require that today’s data centres and networks urgently evolve. It is either that or be left behind in a highly competitive environment.

The platform provides the foundation for a powerful data centre setup. With its new Mesh Architecture and widely expanded resources to its hardware-accelerating and newly integrated technologies, the platform enables a new level of consistent, pervasive, and breakthrough performance.

Lower Your Total Cost of Ownership

A new generation of hardware usually comes with performance and efficiency improvements. That is also the case here with this new Intel series. The Xeon Scalable platform is designed to lead to an improved total cost of ownership as well as higher productivity for users. On an overall level, the TCO can be lowered up to 65 percent with these processors. Factors within that calculation are software and OS licensing fees, acquisition, maintenance, and infrastructure costs.

Virtualization is one of the places where the Intel Xeon Scalable platform shines. That is no surprise and it is an important factor in the enterprise market. More and more users take advantage of virtual machines, and the Scalable platform can run 4.2 times more VM per server when compared to earlier generations.

Foundational Enhancements

You already know your current platform and you want to know why you should upgrade to the latest generation? For this, I’ve added a list of changes and additions in bullet-points. It will hopefully allow you to find out whether the upgrade is worth it or not for your setup.

• Higher per-core performance. Up to 28 cores, delivering high performance and scalability for compute-intensive workloads across compute, storage, and network usages.
• Greater memory bandwidth and capacity. 50% increased memory bandwidth and capacity. Six memory channels versus four memory channels of the previous generation.
• Expanded I/O. 48 lanes of PCIe 3.0 bandwidth and throughput for I/O-intensive workloads.
• Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (Intel UPI): Up to three Intel UPI channels increase the scalability of the platform to as many as eight sockets, as well as improves inter-CPU bandwidth for I/O-intensive workloads versus the previous generation.
• Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (Intel AVX-512). With double the flops per clock cycle compared to previous generation Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 2 (Intel AVX2), Intel AVX-512 boosts performance, and throughput for the most demanding computational tasks in applications, such as modelling and simulation, data analytics and machine learning, data compression, visualization, and digital content creation.
• Security without compromise. Near-zero encryption overhead enables higher performance on all secure data transactions.

First-time Platform Integrations

There are first-time features too, things that the previous generation doesn’t have.

• Integrated Intel Omni-Path Architecture (Intel OPA) Host Fabric Interface in the CPU. End-to-end high-bandwidth, low-latency fabric that optimizes performance and eases deployment of HPC clusters by eliminating the need for a discrete host fabric interface card.
• Integrated Intel QuickAssist Technology (Intel QAT). Chipset-based hardware acceleration for growing compression and cryptographic workloads for greater efficiency while delivering enhanced data transport and protection across server, storage, and network infrastructure.
• Integrated Intel Ethernet into the chipset with scalable iWARP RDMA. Provides up to four 10 Gbps Ethernet ports for high data throughput and low-latency. Ideal for software-defined storage solutions, NVM Express over Fabric solutions, and virtual machine migrations.

Enhanced Platform Trust

Data and platform reliability, as well as protection, are key concerns for enterprises. The new platform also helps you in this area.

• Enhanced Intel Run Sure Technology. New enhancements deliver advanced Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) and server uptime for a company’s most critical workloads. Hardware-assisted capabilities, including enhanced MCA and recovery and adaptive multi-device error correction, diagnose, and recover from previously fatal errors. And, they help ensure data integrity within the memory subsystem.
• Intel Key Protection Technology (Intel KPT) with Integrated Intel QAT and Intel Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT). Deliver hardware-enhanced platform security by providing efficient key and data protection at rest, in-use, and in-flight.
• Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT) with One-Touch Activation. Enhanced platform security while providing simplified and scalable deployment for Intel TXT.

You Want to Know More?

There are a whole lot more details of which you can read up on, on Intel’s product brief and product page. You can even download the whole thing as a PDF from there are read it when and where you want.