Intel announced an update to their Scalable platform on 24th February 2020. Intel have added a number of CPUs to the Cascade Lake SP range. The new 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Gold processors deliver an average of 1.36x performance increase.
"To deliver this level of performance and value, Intel has optimized these new server processors in several areas, including adding more cores, increasing cache sizes or by boosting processor frequency. The new processors — labeled with an “R,” “T” or “U” suffix — are designed for dual- and single-socket mainstream and entry-level server systems. The addition of more cores and increased cache in these processors are targeted at workloads where capacity-per-server is critical, such as virtualised clouds, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) and network function virtualization (NFV)."
Intel also announced two new CPUs, the 6256 and 6250. These two new CPUs deliver the highest clock frequency in the industry at 3.9GHz and 4.5GHz respectively. These processors are suited to workloads that react well to clock speed increase, such as financial trading, simulation, and modelling. The following table will detail the clock speed you can attain with the associated number of cores remaining active. As with most Intel press releases, they quote the max. frequencies with just 2 cores active. In our "All Cores Turbo" column, we list the turbo frequency attainable with all cores active on the CPU.
| SKU | Cores (#) |
LLC (MB) |
TDP (W) |
RRP ($ Estimate) |
Base Freq. (Non-AVX) |
Turbo Freq. (All Cores Non-AVX) |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 6258R | 28 | 38.50 | 205 | $ 3,950 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| 6256 | 12 | 33.00 | 205 | $ 3,900 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | ||||||||||||||||
| 6248R | 24 | 35.75 | 205 | $ 2,700 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | ||||
| 6250 | 8 | 35.75 | 185 | $ 3,400 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6246R | 16 | 35.75 | 205 | $ 3,286 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||||||||||||
| 6242R | 20 | 35.75 | 205 | $ 2,529 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.8 | ||||||||
| 6240R | 24 | 35.75 | 165 | $ 2,205 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | ||||
| 6238R | 28 | 38.50 | 165 | $ 2,618 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| 6230R | 26 | 35.75 | 150 | $ 1,900 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 6226R | 16 | 22.00 | 150 | $ 1,306 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | ||||||||||||
| 6208U | 16 | 22.00 | 150 | $ 989 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | ||||||||||||
| 5220R | 24 | 35.75 | 150 | $ 1,561 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | ||||
| 5218R | 20 | 27.50 | 125 | $ 1,280 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | ||||||||
| 4215R | 8 | 11.00 | 130 | $ 794 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 4214R | 12 | 16.50 | 100 | $ 705 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 4210R | 10 | 13.75 | 100 | $ 511 | 2.4 | 2.9 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.9 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4210T | 10 | 13.75 | 95 | $ 555 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 3206R | 8 | 11.00 | 85 | $ 317 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
There are a couple of SKUs in the range, that we feel are important from a frequency perspective. The 6246R, 6250, and 6256 (green designation). These CPUs do not penalise you for (perfectly logically) leaving all cores active within system BIOS. Intel, as always, quote the maximum turbo frequency of a CPU with just 2 cores remaining enabled. Hardly useful, if you've just bought a pair of 28 core CPUs for your roll-out.
Perhaps more telling, is the drastic price drop that Intel have applied to the range. In the time between Cascade Lake's release in April 2019 and today's announcement there has been enormous momentum behind AMD's Rome platform. Rome offered significant savings in price, with a healthy bump in single thread performance.
It seems AMD made more of a splash in the Lake than Intel had anticipated. Intel's announcement is inline with a mid-term refresh, but with 16 brand new SKUs you could argue it's more of a statement than that.
- R Suffix - These at first look might look appealing with their high clock speeds and core counts. But, they are now fitted with 2 UPI links, as opposed to 3 in the original Cascade-Lake SKUs.
- U Suffix - Unisocket
- T Suffix - 10Y+ NEBS Friendly
If you had previously been considering an 8280, 8268, or other 24+ Core CPU, you could benefit from these cost reductions by transitioning to a 6258R, or 6248R for example. With the understanding that your UPI bandwidth and performance will not be as good as the non-R CPUs.