Xeon X3480 vs E5-2420

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	1605	1890
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.95	no data
Market segment	Server	Server
Power efficiency	3.16	2.05
Architecture codename	Sandy Bridge-EN (2012)	no data
Release date	14 May 2012 (12 years ago)	1 April 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$390	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480 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)	4 (Quad-Core)
Threads	12	8
Base clock speed	1.9 GHz	3.06 GHz
Boost clock speed	2.4 GHz	3.73 GHz
Bus rate	7.2 GT/s	no data
L1 cache	64 KB (per core)	no data
L2 cache	256 KB (per core)	no data
L3 cache	15360 KB (shared)	8 MB Intel® Smart Cache
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm
Die size	294 mm2	no data
Maximum core temperature	no data	73 °C
Number of transistors	1,270 million	no data
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	-	-

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480 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	FCLGA1156,LGA1156
Power consumption (TDP)	95 Watt	95 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® AVX	Intel® SSE4.2
AES-NI	+	-
AVX	+	-
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Turbo Boost Technology	1.0	1.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
Idle States	+	+
Thermal Monitoring	+	-
Flex Memory Access	-	no data
Demand Based Switching	+	+
PAE	no data	36 Bit

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480 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 Xeon X3480 are enumerated here.

VT-d	+	+
VT-x	+	+
EPT	+	+

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR3	DDR3-800, DDR3-1066, DDR3-1333
Maximum memory size	384 GB	32 GB
Max memory channels	3	2
Maximum memory bandwidth	32 GB/s	21 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480.

PCIe version	3.0	2.0
PCI Express lanes	24	16

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	3.23	2.10
Recency	14 May 2012	1 April 2010
Physical cores	6	4
Threads	12	8
Chip lithography	32 nm	45 nm

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2420 and Xeon X3480, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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