Xeon W3540 vs E3-1231 v3

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1321	1937
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.36	0.21
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	Xeon (Desktop)	no data
Power efficiency	5.25	1.43
Architecture codename	Haswell-WS (2013−2014)	Bloomfield (2008−2010)
Release date	11 May 2014 (10 years ago)	30 March 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$240	$699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon E3-1231 v3 has 1500% better value for money than Xeon W3540.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540 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	4 (Quad-Core)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	8	8
Base clock speed	3.4 GHz	2.93 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.8 GHz	3.2 GHz
Bus rate	5 GT/s	no data
L1 cache	64K (per core)	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	256K (per core)	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	8 MB (shared)	8 MB (shared)
Chip lithography	22 nm	45 nm
Die size	160 mm2	263 mm2
Maximum core temperature	no data	68 °C
Number of transistors	1,400 million	731 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540 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.

Number of CPUs in a configuration	1	1
Socket	FCLGA1150	FCLGA1366
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	130 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2	Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	+	-
AVX	+	-
vPro	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
My WiFi	-	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	1.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
TSX	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	+	no data
SIPP	+	-
Demand Based Switching	no data	+
PAE	no data	36 Bit
Fast Memory Access	+	no data

Security technologies

Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+
Secure Key	+	no data
Identity Protection	+	-
OS Guard	+	no data
Anti-Theft	+	no data

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540 are enumerated here.

AMD-V	+	-
VT-d	+	no data
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3
Maximum memory size	32 GB	24 GB
Max memory channels	2	3
Maximum memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	25.6 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics card

no data

N/A

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540.

PCIe version	3.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	16	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.

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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.

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Pros & cons summary

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Performance score	4.44	1.96
Recency	11 May 2014	30 March 2009
Chip lithography	22 nm	45 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	130 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E3-1231 v3 and Xeon W3540, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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