The Intel Xeon 6 processor family delivers powerful computing optimized for both performance and efficiency and is essential for addressing the changing needs of today’s data centers. The Intel Xeon processor family features P-core (performance) processors and E-core (efficiency core) processors. Whether driving compute-heavy AI tasks or supporting scalable cloud-native microservices, this processor family offers the flexibility needed for a wide range of operational demands.
Intel Xeon Family Overview
Intel Xeon 6900-series processors are part of a new class of Intel server platform designs. They deliver maximum performance, the highest memory bandwidth, and maximum throughput, making them ideal for cloud, HPC, and AI workloads. These Intel Xeon processors offer higher core counts, additional memory channels, and more I/O lanes, with higher thermal design points than other series.
Diverse Options for Performance and Efficiency
The Intel Xeon 6 processor family introduces a modular x86 architecture, enabling data center architects to build infrastructures tailored to specific needs across private, public, and hybrid clouds. The Intel Xeon 6 processors come in four series, offering capabilities ranging from entry-level to high-performance workloads, with options for more cores, larger cache, faster memory, and improved I/O compared to previous generations.
For maximum flexibility, Intel Xeon 6 processors offer a choice between two CPU microarchitectures: Performance Cores (P-cores) and Efficient Cores (E-cores). Both core types share a compatible x86 instruction set architecture and a common hardware platform, including the CPU socket. Intel has partnered with industry leaders to ensure seamless integration of both core types with widely used operating systems, compilers, libraries, and frameworks. This shared software and hardware ecosystem ensures solutions can be tailored to meet every requirement.
- Intel Xeon 6900 Series Processors are designed for maximum performance and are ideal for the most demanding cloud, AI and HPC environments
- Intel Xeon 6700 Series Processors are designed for enhanced performance and are ideal for a wide array of data center and telco environments
- Intel Xeon 6500 Series Processors are designed for essential performance and are ideal for mainstream server and edge environments
- Intel Xeon 6300 Series Processors are designed for entry-level performance and are ideal for small/medium business environments
Explore Intel Xeon Processors
The Intel Xeon family features performance-core and efficiency-core processors that provide efficient performance by scaling power use as server workloads increase. This means power is used effectively during heavy tasks to complete them faster. In cloud and shared environments, the processors only use the necessary power when needed, reducing costs when servers aren’t fully active.
System-wide power management and monitoring features boost sustainability by optimizing energy use per application and helping lower overall power consumption.
Intel Xeon 6 Processors with P-Cores
P-cores are optimized for high performance per core and excel at the widest range of workloads, including better AI performance than any other general-purpose CPU.
- Provide up to 2x better performance than 5th generation Intel Xeon processors
- Enable AI everywhere with AI acceleration in every core.
- Improve memory throughput with the fastest DDR5 memory available. Multiplexer Combined Ranks (MCR) DIMMs deliver more than 37 percent greater memory bandwidth than RDIMMs,14 with an expected data transfer rate of up to 8,800 mega transfers per second (MT/s).
- Take advantage of up to 128 cores per socket with L3 cache up to 504 MB and exceptionally low latency at large L3 access sizes.
Intel Xeon P-Core Advantages
- Deploy High Performance for a Vast Range of Workloads
- Take Advantage of Powerful AI Performance from a CPU
- Optimize Performance-per-Watt for General Purpose Workloads
- Keep Up with Business Growth with Enhanced Security Features
Enhance Targeted Workloads Optimized for P-Cores
- Accelerate AI Workflows to Stay Competitive
- Manage Increasingly Complex HPC Calculations and Simulations
- Achieve New Levels of Infrastructure and Storage Optimization
- Boost Productivity and Help Eliminate Latency at the Edge
- Grow Relational Databases while Maintaining Fast, Responsive Analytics
Intel Xeon 6 Processors with E-Cores
E-core processors are designed for high core density and excellent performance per watt, making them ideal for cloud-scale workloads that require high task-parallel processing.
- Provide up to 2.6x better results compared to 2nd generation Intel Xeon processors
- Replace 4.3 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based servers with a single server at similar performance
- Consolidate three 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based systems racks into a single rack.
- Accommodate AI inferencing and vector-oriented operations
- Offer up to 288 cores per socket, with as much as 216 MB L3 cache, and with exceptionally low latency at large L3 access sizes.
Intel Xeon E-Core Advantages
- Maximize Single-Threaded Performance with High Throughput
- Enable More Choice, Interoperability and Reliability for Cloud-Scale Workflows
- Contribute to Lower Costs and Carbon Footprint with Energy-Efficient Compute
- Rely on Trusted, Quality Solutions and Security Features
Enhance Targeted Workloads Optimized for E-Cores
- Accelerate Databases and Analytics
- Increase Networking Capacity
- Deliver Responsive Web Services and Microservices
- Economize Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) at Scale
Highlights
The Intel Xeon 6 processors offer significant improvements in performance and memory capabilities, supporting various AI, HPC, and database workloads. These processors come with a mix of P-cores and E-cores, providing flexibility for different computing needs.
- Up to 288 cores with E-cores and 128 cores with P-cores in a single socket.
- Intel AMX enhances AI performance, providing up to 16x more multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations than AVX-512 for BF16 and FP16-based models.
- Intel AVX-512 and AVX2 with VNNI offer enhanced AI compatibility and faster vector mathematics.
- MCR DIMMs deliver over 37% more memory bandwidth than standard DDR5 DIMMs.
- Intel® Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) 2.0 provides a 20% increase in inter-socket bandwidth, reaching up to 24 GT/s.
- PCIe Gen 5 and Compute Express Link (CXL) 2.0 with up to 188 lanes and 64 lanes respectively, offer high I/O bandwidth for accelerators, storage controllers, and memory expansion.
Additional features include offloading capabilities for cryptography, compression, and memory management with Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT), Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA) 2.0, In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), and Dynamic Load Balancer (DLB).
- Intel TDX enhances confidential computing with AES-256 encryption.
- The Intel On Demand service allows activation of CPU-based features based on need.
Improvements
The Intel Xeon 6 processor family delivers significant advancements over previous generations.
Intel Xeon 6 Processor Compared to 5th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor
P-Core
- General Compute: Up to 2x higher performance for integer and floating-point throughput
- Artificial Intelligence: Up to 2x higher GenAI performance with BF data types
E-Core
- Microservices: Up to 1.5X better performance/watt for server-side Java throughput
- Analytics: Up to 1.6x better performance/watt for MySQL OLTP
- Media: Up to 1.5x higher AVC performance/watt
Intel Xeon 6 Processor Compared to 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor
P-Core
- General Compute: Up to 6.4x higher floating point and up to 5.9x higher integer throughput
- HPC: Up to 6.1x higher HPC performance based on the industry-standard HPCG benchmark
E-Core
- Microservices: Up to 2.3x better performance/watt for server-side Java throughput
- Analytics: Up to 3.7x higher performance for MySQL OLTP
- Media: Up to 4.2x higher AVC performance with up to 2.6x better performance/watt
- Networking: Up to 4.1x higher 5G UPF performance with up to 2.6x better performance/watt
Use Cases
Intel Xeon 6 processors meet a wide range of performance and efficiency requirements, making them ideal for complex, demanding, and evolving use cases. These use cases include:
- AI
- HPC
- Storage
- Analytics
- Networking
- Edge
- Cloud Computing
Intel Xeon Meeting Modern Data Center Needs
Data center infrastructure represents one of the most important investments for organizations. IT leaders must implement solutions that not only support business growth but also balance factors like security, energy efficiency, and manageability, all of which impact the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Additionally, IT leaders must stay aware of market trends driving the rapid evolution of data center needs. For instance, the AI market is projected to grow by 4x over the next five years, driven by factors such as workload automation and generative AI. Many enterprise applications are integrating inferencing code, which demands processing large data vectors through data-parallel computing, favoring high performance per core. Simultaneously, the cloud microservices market is set to grow by 5x, as more monolithic applications are redesigned using cloud-native principles. These task-parallel workloads benefit more from efficient scalar processing than from additional complex computing power. The Intel Xeon 6 processor family addresses these data center needs, making it an ideal choice for performance and efficiency.
Sourcing Options
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