i7-6700K vs Xeon E5-2697 v2

Aggregate performance score

Xeon E5-2697 v2
2013
12 cores / 24 threads, 130 Watt
8.99
+60%
Core i7-6700K
2015
4 cores / 8 threads, 91 Watt
5.62

Xeon E5-2697 v2 outperforms Core i7-6700K by an impressive 60% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

Comparing Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking8461135
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.921.06
Market segmentServerDesktop processor
SeriesIntel Xeon (Desktop)Intel Core i7 (Desktop)
Power efficiency6.545.84
Architecture codenameIvy Bridge-EP (2013)Skylake (2015−2016)
Release date1 September 2013 (11 years ago)5 August 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$1,723$339

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 has 81% better value for money than i7-6700K.

Detailed specifications

Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K 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 cores12 (Dodeca-Core)4 (Quad-Core)
Threads248
Base clock speed2.7 GHz4 GHz
Boost clock speed3.5 GHz4.2 GHz
Bus typeno dataDMI 3.0
Bus rate8GT/s4 × 8 GT/s
Multiplierno data40
L1 cache64K (per core)64 KB (per core)
L2 cache256K (per core)256 KB (per core)
L3 cache30 MB (shared)8 MB (shared)
Chip lithography22 nm14 nm
Die size160 mm2122 mm2
Maximum core temperature86 °Cno data
Maximum case temperature (TCase)no data64 °C
Number of transistors1,400 million1750 Million
64 bit support++
Windows 11 compatibility--
Unlocked multiplier-+

Compatibility

Information on Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K 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 configuration21 (Uniprocessor)
SocketFCLGA2011FCLGA1151
Power consumption (TDP)130 Watt91 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensionsIntel® AVXIntel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2
AES-NI++
AVX++
vProno data+
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)++
Turbo Boost Technology2.02.0
Hyper-Threading Technology++
TSX-+
Idle States++
Thermal Monitoring++
Flex Memory Access-no data
Demand Based Switching+no data
PAE46 Bitno data

Security technologies

Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT+-
EDB++
Secure Key++
MPX-+
Identity Protection-+
SGXno dataYes with Intel® ME
OS Guard++

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K are enumerated here.

AMD-V-+
VT-d++
VT-x++
EPT++

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory typesDDR3DDR3, DDR4
Maximum memory size768 GB64 GB
Max memory channels42
Maximum memory bandwidth59.7 GB/s34.134 GB/s
ECC memory support+-

Graphics specifications

General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.

Integrated graphics cardno dataIntel HD Graphics 530
Max video memoryno data64 GB
Quick Sync Video-+
Clear Videono data+
Clear Video HDno data+
Graphics max frequencyno data1.15 GHz
InTru 3Dno data+

Graphics interfaces

Available interfaces and connections of Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K integrated GPUs.

Number of displays supportedno data3
eDPno data+
DisplayPort-+
HDMI-+
DVIno data+

Graphics image quality

Maximum display resolutions supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K integrated GPUs, including resolutions over different interfaces.

4K resolution supportno data+
Max resolution over HDMI 1.4no data4096x2304@24Hz
Max resolution over eDPno data4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over DisplayPortno data4096x2304@60Hz
Max resolution over VGAno dataN/A

Graphics API support

APIs supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K integrated GPUs, sometimes API versions are included.

DirectXno data12
OpenGLno data4.5

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K.

PCIe version3.03.0
PCI Express lanes4016

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.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 8.99
+60%
i7-6700K 5.62

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.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 14284
+59.9%
i7-6700K 8933

GeekBench 5 Single-Core

GeekBench 5 Single-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses only a single CPU core.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 556
i7-6700K 1506
+171%

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core

GeekBench 5 Multi-Core is a cross-platform application developed in the form of CPU tests that independently recreate certain real-world tasks with which to accurately measure performance. This version uses all available CPU cores.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 4339
i7-6700K 4939
+13.8%

Cinebench 10 32-bit single-core

Cinebench R10 is an ancient ray tracing benchmark for processors by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. Its single core version uses just one CPU thread to render a futuristic looking motorcycle.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 4173
i7-6700K 6531
+56.5%

Cinebench 10 32-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 10 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R10 using all the processor threads. Possible number of threads is limited by 16 in this version.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 34776
+34.7%
i7-6700K 25817

3DMark06 CPU

3DMark06 is a discontinued DirectX 9 benchmark suite from Futuremark. Its CPU part contains two scenarios, one dedicated to artificial intelligence pathfinding, another to game physics using PhysX package.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 8843
i7-6700K 9037
+2.2%

wPrime 32

wPrime 32M is a math multi-thread processor test, which calculates square roots of first 32 million integer numbers. Its result is measured in seconds, so that the less is benchmark result, the faster the processor.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 12.31
i7-6700K 6.66
+84.8%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 11.5 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R11.5 which uses all the processor threads. A maximum of 64 threads is supported in this version.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 18
+82.4%
i7-6700K 10

Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core

Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 1550
+76.1%
i7-6700K 880

Cinebench 15 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R15 (standing for Release 15) is a benchmark made by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version (sometimes called Single-Thread) only uses a single processor thread to render a room full of reflective spheres and light sources.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 105
i7-6700K 178
+69%

Cinebench 11.5 64-bit single-core

Cinebench R11.5 is an old benchmark by Maxon, authors of Cinema 4D. It was superseded by later versions of Cinebench, which use more modern variants of Cinema 4D engine. The Single Core version loads a single thread with ray tracing to render a glossy room full of crystal spheres and light sources.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 1.25
i7-6700K 1.97
+57.6%

TrueCrypt AES

TrueCrypt is a discontinued piece of software that was widely used for on-the-fly-encryption of disk partitions, now superseded by VeraCrypt. It contains several embedded performance tests, one of them being TrueCrypt AES, which measures data encryption speed using AES algorithm. Result is encryption speed in gigabytes per second.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 8.7
+100%
i7-6700K 4.4

x264 encoding pass 2

x264 Pass 2 is a slower variant of x264 video compression that produces a variable bit rate output file, which results in better quality since the higher bit rate is used when it is needed more. Benchmark result is still measured in frames per second.  

Xeon E5-2697 v2 85
+56%
i7-6700K 55

x264 encoding pass 1

x264 version 4.0 is a video encoding benchmark uses MPEG 4 x264 compression method to compress a sample HD (720p) video. Pass 1 is a faster variant that produces a constant bit rate output file. Its result is measured in frames per second, which means how many frames of the source video file were encoded per second.  

Xeon E5-2697 v2 165
i7-6700K 205
+24.3%

WinRAR 4.0

WinRAR 4.0 is an outdated version of a popular file archiver. It contains an internal speed test, using 'Best' setting of RAR compression on large chunks of randomly generated data. Its results are measured in kilobytes per second.

Xeon E5-2697 v2 7269
+23.7%
i7-6700K 5877

Gaming performance

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 8.99 5.62
Recency 1 September 2013 5 August 2015
Physical cores 12 4
Threads 24 8
Chip lithography 22 nm 14 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 130 Watt 91 Watt

Xeon E5-2697 v2 has a 60% higher aggregate performance score, and 200% more physical cores and 200% more threads.

i7-6700K, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, a 57.1% more advanced lithography process, and 42.9% lower power consumption.

The Xeon E5-2697 v2 is our recommended choice as it beats the Core i7-6700K in performance tests.

Be aware that Xeon E5-2697 v2 is a server/workstation processor while Core i7-6700K is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon E5-2697 v2 and Core i7-6700K, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2
Xeon E5-2697 v2
Intel Core i7-6700K
Core i7-6700K

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