Core 2 Duo E6420 vs Xeon E5-2420

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1605	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.94	no data
Market segment	Server	Desktop processor
Power efficiency	3.16	no data
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge-EN (2012)	Conroe (2006−2007)
Release date	14 May 2012 (12 years ago)	April 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$390	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420 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	6 (Hexa-Core)	2 (Dual-core)
Threads	12	2
Base clock speed	1.9 GHz	2.13 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.4 GHz	2.13 GHz
Bus rate	7.2 GT/s	1066 MHz
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	64 KB
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	4 MB
L3 cache	15360 KB (shared)	0 KB
Chip lithography	32 nm	65 nm
Die size	294 mm2	111 mm2
Maximum core temperature	no data	60 °C
Number of transistors	1,270 million	167 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-
VID voltage range	no data	0.85V-1.5V

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420 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	2	1
Socket	FCLGA1356	PLGA775
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	65 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	no data
AES-NI	+	-
AVX	+	-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	-
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	-
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	+
Flex Memory Access	-	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	-
FSB parity	no data	-

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	-
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR1, DDR2, DDR3
Maximum memory size	384 GB	no data
Max memory channels	3	no data
Maximum memory bandwidth	32 GB/s	no data
ECC memory support	+	-

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420.

PCIe version	3.0	no data
PCI Express lanes	24	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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Pros & cons summary

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Physical cores	6	2
Threads	12	2
Chip lithography	32 nm	65 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	65 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2420 and Core 2 Duo E6420, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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