What is Intel Xeon Scalable?

Intel produces many families of processor, all designed to tackle different tasks. People are most aware of its Intel Core chips, which are designed for desktop PCs and laptops, but here we’re focusing on the Intel Xeon processor family. In particular, the Intel Xeon Scalable chips. These sit right at the top of Intel’s pyramid of processors.

You won’t find Xeons inside a personal computer. Instead, they will be in workstations and servers that cost thousands of dollars – more likely tens of thousands of dollars.

What is an Intel Xeon Scalable processor?

The Scalable in its name indicates that you can use at least two of these chips on the same motherboard. However, things aren’t quite that straightforward. Not every Xeon Scalable chip can be “scaled”, with many models available only as single-socket varieties.

What’s more, the 5th Gen Xeon Scalable chips are only available in single-socket or dual-socket options. Intel told us: “Customers that require four and eight-socket systems are supported by 4th Gen Intel Xeon processors.”

To be precise, if you want a four-socket system then you will need the Gold variant as a minimum, as this supports up to four chips running in the same server. The top-end Platinum option goes up to eight sockets.

Xeon Scalable processors are purely aimed at businesses, ranging from entry-level servers to data centres. By contrast, you will find Intel Xeon W chips in workstations (both desktops PCs and laptops). There are also Xeon D and (older) Xeon E chips, which are also designed for servers.

What is Xeon Scalable 5th Gen?

Intel announced its Xeon Scalable 5th Gen processors, codenamed “Emerald Rapids,” in December 2023. They are based on the same “Intel 7” process node as 4th Gen Xeon Scalables and – to quote Intel – have “AI acceleration in every core”.

Here are some key claims Intel makes about how the 5th Gen compares to the 4th Gen Xeon Scalable chips:

• 21% average performance gain for general compute performance
• 36% higher average performance per watt across a range of customer workloads
• 42% higher inference performance on large language models (LLMs) under 20 billion parameters
• 2.7x better query throughput on IBM’s watsonx.data platform

No wonder Sandra Rivera, Executive VP and GM of Intel’s Data Center and AI Group, looks so happy in the photo below.

There’s a big focus on security here, too, with Intel’s Software Guard Extensions (SGEs) and Trust Domain Extensions (TDEs) part of Intel’s Confidential Computing initiative.

Finally, as concern grows about the power demands of AI, Intel promises the 5th generation is its most “sustainable” yet. That’s in part because it promises all the performance benefits listed above but without increasing its power demands.

Related explainer by TechFinitive: What is Intel vPro?

What is Xeon Scalable 4th Gen?

Intel launched its Xeon Scalable 4th Gen chips, code-named Sapphire Rapids, in January 2023. They include a number of accelerators that can tackle specific areas, removing that burden from the main processor cores. As above, here are some claims about improved performance against the previous generation chips:

• 53% average performance gain (general purpose compute)
• Up to 10x higher inference and training performance (AI tasks)
• Up to 2x higher data compression with 95% fewer cores (networking & storage)
• Up to 3x higher performance in data analytics

The other big difference compared to 3rd Gen chips is that they used Intel’s then-new Intel 7 fabrication technology and LGA 4677 socket.

What is Xeon Scalable 3rd Gen?

Then you have the Xeon Scalable 3rd Gen. This is based on Intel’s older Ice Lake architecture, which dates back all the way back to 2019. That’s why Intel could make such big claims in terms of performance for the 4th Gen Xeon Scalables: four years is a long time in silicon land.

The Xeon Scalable 3rd Gen are still powerful chips, but buy them with caution. You don’t just lose out in speed compared to the newer versions, but also power efficiency. Longer term, buying a server with the newer chips may well cost you less.

The other drawback of 3rd Gen chips is that there isn’t an upgrade route. The 4th Gen and 5th Gen Xeons both use the LGA 4677 socket, while the 3rd Gen is stuck on the previous generation.

So why consider the 3rd Gen chips? “Intel continues to support 3rd Gen Intel Xeon processors to meet customer demand and provide long-term support,” Intel told us. “For example, Intel Gaudi 2 AI Accelerators that are deployed in an x8 configuration use 3rd Gen Intel Xeon processors as the host CPU.”

Xeon Scalable Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze

Intel divides its Xeon Scalable processor family in a similar way to its consumer chips. Good is Bronze (like the Core i3), Better is Silver (Core i5), Better still is Gold (Core i7) and Platinum sits right at the top (Core i9).

The higher you go, the more cores and cache you benefit from. And greater memory bandwidth too. The below summarises the currently available Xeon Scalable 5th Gen processors. Intel may well release more as time goes on.

And here’s a top-line summary of 4th Gen Xeon Scalable processors:

And finally here are the 3rd Gen chips:

In general, Platinum processors are best suited for the most demanding workloads, such as high-performance computing, AI and machine learning. Gold processors are a good choice for general-purpose workloads, such as servers, databases and virtual machines.

Silver processors are a good option for less demanding workloads, such as file servers and web servers. Bronze processors are best suited for entry-level servers and workstations.

Which Intel Xeon chip should you choose?

We would strongly recommend that you are guided by one of Intel’s partners – either an OEM, such as Dell, or a reseller – rather than try and make up your own mind.

Intel said to us that it: “provides guidance and resources to customers, partners, and OEMs on all Xeon products, highlighting specific segments and use cases. Our broad range of products are designed to accelerate the highly specific workloads and deployments of our customers.”

Broad is the word. There are over 30 Gold variants of Intel’s 4th Gen Xeon Scalable chips alone, so good luck navigating those options.