Xeon E5420 vs Apple M2

Place in the ranking	807	2283
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Market segment	Laptop	Server
Series	Apple Apple M-Series	no data
Power efficiency	44.48	1.50
Release date	10 June 2022 (2 years ago)	1 October 2007 (17 years ago)

Detailed specifications

Apple M2 and Xeon E5420 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)	no data
Threads	8	no data
Base clock speed	2.424 GHz	2.5 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.48 GHz	no data
L1 cache	2 MB	no data
L2 cache	20 MB	no data
L3 cache	no data	12 MB L2 Cache
Chip lithography	5 nm	45 nm
Maximum core temperature	no data	67 °C
Number of transistors	20000 Million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	no data	-
VID voltage range	no data	0.85V-1.35V

Compatibility

Information on Apple M2 and Xeon E5420 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.

Socket	no data	LGA771
Power consumption (TDP)	20 Watt	80 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Apple M2 and Xeon E5420. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	no data	+
Turbo Boost Technology	no data	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	no data	-
Idle States	no data	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Demand Based Switching	no data	+
FSB parity	no data	+

Security technologies

Apple M2 and Xeon E5420 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	no data	-
EDB	no data	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Apple M2 and Xeon E5420 are enumerated here.

VT-x	no data	+
EPT	no data	-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

Apple M2 10-Core GPU ( - 1398 MHz)

no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.

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.

Apple M2 9.40
+640%

Xeon E5420 1.27

Passmark

Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance.

Apple M2 14933
+639%

Xeon E5420 2022

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	9.40	1.27
Recency	10 June 2022	1 October 2007
Chip lithography	5 nm	45 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	20 Watt	80 Watt

Apple M2 has a 640.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 14 years, a 800% more advanced lithography process, and 300% lower power consumption.

The Apple M2 is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon E5420 in performance tests.

Be aware that Apple M2 is a notebook processor while Xeon E5420 is a server/workstation one.

Should you still have questions on choice between Apple M2 and Xeon E5420, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.