Xeon Gold 6346 vs Gold 6246
Aggregate performance score
Xeon Gold 6346 outperforms Xeon Gold 6246 by an impressive 52% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
Comparing Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346 processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 434 | 213 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 6.99 | no data |
| Market segment | Server | Server |
| Series | Intel Xeon Gold | no data |
| Power efficiency | 8.97 | 10.95 |
| Architecture codename | Cascade Lake (2019−2020) | Ice Lake-SP (2021) |
| Release date | 2 April 2019 (5 years ago) | 6 April 2021 (3 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $3,286 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance per price, higher is better.
Detailed specifications
Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346 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 | 12 (Dodeca-Core) | 16 (Hexadeca-Core) |
| Threads | 24 | 32 |
| Base clock speed | 3.3 GHz | 3.1 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.2 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| Bus type | DMI 3.0 | no data |
| Bus rate | 4 × 8 GT/s | no data |
| Multiplier | 33 | no data |
| L1 cache | 768 KB | 64K (per core) |
| L2 cache | 12 MB | 1 MB (per core) |
| L3 cache | 24.75 MB | 36 MB (shared) |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 10 nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 76 °C | no data |
| Maximum case temperature (TCase) | no data | 78 °C |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | + | + |
Compatibility
Information on Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346 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 | FCLGA4189 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 205 Watt |
Technologies and extensions
Technological solutions and additional instructions supported by Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346. 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® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512 |
| AES-NI | + | + |
| AVX | + | + |
| vPro | + | + |
| Enhanced SpeedStep (EIST) | + | + |
| Speed Shift | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Technology | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Hyper-Threading Technology | + | + |
| TSX | + | + |
| Turbo Boost Max 3.0 | - | no data |
| Deep Learning Boost | + | + |
Security technologies
Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346 technologies aimed at improving security, for example, by protecting against hacks.
| TXT | + | + |
| EDB | + | + |
| SGX | no data | Yes with Intel® SPS |
Virtualization technologies
Virtual machine speed-up technologies supported by Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346 are enumerated here.
| VT-d | + | + |
| VT-x | + | + |
| EPT | + | + |
Memory specs
Types, maximum amount and channel quantity of RAM supported by Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346. Depending on the motherboard, higher memory frequencies may be supported.
| Supported memory types | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-3200 |
| Maximum memory size | 1 TB | 6 TB |
| Max memory channels | 6 | 8 |
| Maximum memory bandwidth | 140.8 GB/s | no data |
| ECC memory support | + | + |
Peripherals
Specifications and connection of peripherals supported by Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346.
| PCIe version | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| PCI Express lanes | 48 | 64 |
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.
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.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 15.93 | 24.16 |
| Recency | 2 April 2019 | 6 April 2021 |
| Physical cores | 12 | 16 |
| Threads | 24 | 32 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 10 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 165 Watt | 205 Watt |
Xeon Gold 6246 has 24.2% lower power consumption.
Xeon Gold 6346, on the other hand, has a 51.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads, and a 40% more advanced lithography process.
The Xeon Gold 6346 is our recommended choice as it beats the Xeon Gold 6246 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions on choice between Xeon Gold 6246 and Xeon Gold 6346, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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