Xeon E5-2640 vs Gold 6242

Primary details

Comparing Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.

Place in the ranking	393	1427
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	9.79	3.94
Market segment	Server	Server
Series	Intel Xeon Gold	no data
Power efficiency	10.44	3.94
Architecture codename	Cascade Lake (2019−2020)	Sandy Bridge-EP (2012)
Release date	2 April 2019 (5 years ago)	6 March 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$2,529	$162

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance per price, higher is better.

Xeon Gold 6242 has 148% better value for money than Xeon E5-2640.

Detailed specifications

Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640 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	16 (Hexadeca-Core)	6 (Hexa-Core)
Threads	32	12
Base clock speed	2.8 GHz	2.5 GHz
Boost clock speed	3.9 GHz	3 GHz
Bus type	DMI 3.0	no data
Bus rate	4 × 8 GT/s	7.2 GT/s
Multiplier	28	no data
L1 cache	1 MB	64 KB (per core)
L2 cache	16 MB	256 KB (per core)
L3 cache	22 MB	15360 KB (shared)
Chip lithography	14 nm	32 nm
Die size	no data	435 mm2
Maximum core temperature	85 °C	73 °C
Number of transistors	no data	2,270 million
64 bit support	+	+
Windows 11 compatibility	+	-

Compatibility

Information on Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640 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	4 (Multiprocessor)	2
Socket	FCLGA3647	FCLGA2011
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	95 Watt

Technologies and extensions

Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640. You'll probably need this information if you require some particular technology.

Instruction set extensions	Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512	Intel® AVX
AES-NI	+	+
AVX	+	+
vPro	+	no data
Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST)	+	+
Speed Shift	+	no data
Turbo Boost Technology	2.0	1.0
Hyper-Threading Technology	+	+
TSX	+	-
Idle States	no data	+
Thermal Monitoring	-	+
Flex Memory Access	no data	-
Demand Based Switching	no data	+
Turbo Boost Max 3.0	-	no data
Deep Learning Boost	+	-

Security technologies

Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.

TXT	+	+
EDB	+	+

Virtualization technologies

Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640 are enumerated here.

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

Memory specs

Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.

Supported memory types	DDR4-2933	DDR3
Maximum memory size	1 TB	384 GB
Max memory channels	6	4
Maximum memory bandwidth	140.8 GB/s	42.6 GB/s
ECC memory support	+	+

Peripherals

Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640.

PCIe version	3.0	3.0
PCI Express lanes	48	40

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	16.55	3.96
Recency	2 April 2019	6 March 2012
Physical cores	16	6
Threads	32	12
Chip lithography	14 nm	32 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	150 Watt	95 Watt

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Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Gold 6242 and Xeon E5-2640, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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