Intel Xeon E5-2670 review and testing

Testing this processor was a spontaneous decision. After all, in the near future, I was not going to conduct bench sessions and the reason for the long refusal of tests was the laboratory video card GeForce GTX 1060 for 3 gigabytes.

In modern realities, it is not always enough for testing games at 720p, not to mention 1080p, which is in demand among readers. Based on this, I didn’t really want to sit down for lengthy tests of several kits in the test laboratory. But plans changed dramatically.

The thing is that for a short period of time a rather interesting and still extremely popular Intel Xeon E5-2670 processor got into our test laboratory. And here it is worth noting that it did not come alone, but with his companion – the most interesting motherboard Hewlett-Packard Z420 (HP 1589) of the second revision.

Why is she so interesting? Firstly, this is not a typical “Chinese” with their bunch of bios childhood sores, weak power supply chain, and so on. HP Z420 is produced in China, of course, but the customer is the Hewlett-Packard brand. Secondly, it has 8 slots for RAM. And thirdly, unlike branded motherboards of the same DELL, HP Z420 can be easily installed in any case that supports the ATX format.

Processor

It is a typical representative of the Sandy Bridge-EP family before us. The processor is based on the C2 core revision, which should have an extremely positive effect on heating and power consumption. Overall, C2 is the best possible stepping for Sandy Bridge-EP.

Xeon E5-2670 has 8 cores, 16 threads, operating in base mode at 2600MHz, and with Turbo Boost technology, the processor is capable of reaching 3000MHz on all eight cores.

The CPU carries on board 20 megabytes of L3 cache and has a TDP of 115 watts.

All of the above is confirmed by the CPU-z utility, except for the processor frequency. With the maximum load on all cores, it slightly differs from the passport one and is 2991 MHz instead of 3000 MHz.

The Xeon E5-2670 supports almost the entire current instruction set: AES, AVX, EM64T, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, SSSE3, VT-d, and VT-x. The exceptions, of course, are the equally important AVX2 and TSX-NI, but nothing can be done about it. And the lack of support for AVX2 and TSX-NI extensions is not as critical as, for example, the lack of SSE4.2 in Core 2 processors.

One of the features of this CPU should also be mentioned. When testing in some resource-intensive applications, such as LinX using AVX instructions, the processor frequency may briefly drop to the base 2600 MHz. The reason for this drop is the CPU power consumption limit set at 115 watts. As soon as the chip reaches the TDP limit, the internal mechanisms reset the clock frequency in order to fit the consumption into the frames set by the manufacturer.

But it should be borne in mind that during the operation of the processor under conditions close to real ones, I did not observe a drop in clock frequencies: neither in relatively heavy 3D rendering, nor in archivers, and even more so in games.

Pros and cons

Of the main advantages of the Xeon E5-2670 processor, and of the entire LGA2011 platform, of course, it is worth noting the support for cheap ECC REG DDR3 RAM.

For example, for the test system, 32GB of RAM were purchased for $50, dialed in four 8GB sticks with a frequency of 1333MHz. If you want to install a higher-frequency RAM, then, for example, you will have to pay twice as much for a set of 4 modules of 8GB with a frequency of 1866MHz – $100.

However, not all processors need such high-frequency memory. For the same E5-2670, four-channel 1333MHz memory is enough. In the future, we will definitely check this judgment and publish the results in one of the future materials.

The second advantage  is the processor price. As of now (October 23, 2019), the Xeon E5-2670 can be purchased for $50-60. For example, on Aliexpress the chip costs $56:

We figured out the pros, let’s move on to the obvious conses.

The first and perhaps the only one is the “dead end” of the LGA2011 platform. After all, the best processor for this socket is a 12-core, 24-stream Intel Xeon E5 2697 v2.

But taking this processor into account is of little use. Indeed, with a price bordering on AMD Ryzen and other modern CPUs, it manages to lose to them in almost all aspects – from an obviously low performance per core, high power consumption, and to the lack of support for modern instructions.

With such a ratio of characteristics and prices, it makes little sense to even remember it.

The disadvantages include the lack of extensions such as AVX2 and TSX-NI. For example, the TSX-NI extension is required for the PlayStation 3 RPSC3 emulator to work properly.

Overclocking

There is practically none. This, of course, depends on which motherboard you are using. But, in any case, you will not be able to overclock the processor more than 105-107 MHz on the BCLK bus, and this is an additional 100-200 MHz to the final frequency of the chip.

And the point of such overclocking, if it is reset every reboot or shutdown of the computer. Overclocking will of course remain on branded motherboards from MSI, ASUS, or Gigabyte, but the price of such products borders on common sense. Better then take a closer look at modern first-generation Ryzen processors and motherboards for them.

A little about motherboard HP Z420

For a specific branded board, the HP Z420 has quite a few “pitfalls”.

The first is, of course, an adapter from the standard 24-pin power supply to the “HP” power supply. But often, sellers put it in the kit, especially since without it the board is generally useless. Unless, of course, you are able to make the adapter yourself (which is not so difficult).

And the second is the custom and unregulated fan connectors. This can be solved even easier: by connecting all fans to the power supply unit for the required voltages (5, 7, or 12 volts).

Otherwise, we have an ordinary ATX board with 10 SATA ports, two of which are SATA 3.0 and two full-speed PCI-e 3.0 slots.

Of the additional pleasant “buns” – the board of the second revision that came to us for the test boasts support for Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors (Ivy Bridge-EP up to 12 cores, 24 threads).

The processor power converter on the HP Z420 motherboard is 6 + 1:

Outwardly, the CPU power supply system looks pretty good, but in practice, everything is not so rosy. With prolonged loads of the 115-watt Xeon E5-2670, the temperature of the transistors often exceeded 85 degrees (the measurement was carried out by a Chinese infrared thermometer, which is a little lying, but it wasn’t possible to hold a finger on the transistors – it burned seriously). This is quite satisfactory, but with more powerful CPUs with a 135-watt package, for example, with the same E5-2680 or E5-2690, the motherboard may no longer cope.

But do not worry – this trouble is solved by installing small radiators on power transistors, well, or, in extreme cases, by a banal directional blowing of power circuits.

Rivals

Let’s start with the price counterpart of the Xeon E5-2670. Of the so-called “legitimate” processors (desktop, to put it simply), at the moment we have a Core i5-2500K:

This CPU does not need any special introduction, however, in a nutshell: This is a 4-core, 4-thread Sandy Bridge processor, operating at a base frequency of 3300 MHz and capable of reaching 3400 MHz on all cores thanks to Intel Turbo Boost technology. The chip has a free multiplier and is designed to be installed in the LGA1155 socket.

The processor was overclocked to a frequency of 4589 MHz at a voltage of 1.46 volts. The RAM was set at 1600MHz, cause the test board refused to start with divisors higher:

On October 23, 2019, the cost of the Core i5-2500K is just $50-60, which is equal to the price of the Xeon E5-2670.

The second, and, in my opinion, the main rival of today’s hero will be the Xeon X5660 – a 6-core, a 12-thread monster straight from 2010. The chip carries 12 megabytes of third-level cache and a three-channel RAM controller on board.

This CPU is designed for the relatively up-to-date LGA 1366 platform and for its ridiculous price of $ 16 is a huge bargain even in 2019.

The processor has installed in a DELL T3500 (09KPNV) motherboard, which hints at a complete lack of overclocking. In tests, the Xeon X5660 will operate at its maximum frequency for all cores – 3066MHz.

The last processor tested today will be the Core i3-540. And only in overclocking, since its performance at base frequencies is so terrible that it successfully “braked” the entire Assasins Creed test.

The processor was overclocked to a frequency of 4600 MHz with a core voltage of 1.521 volts and a memory controller voltage of 1.21 volts.

IMPORTANT: Not all first-generation 32nm Core i3s can handle this high voltage on a consistent basis. When overclocking the Core i3-500 series, I advise you not to exceed 1.40 volts per core and 1.2 volts per memory controller.

Test setup:

• Processors – Intel Xeon E5-2670@3000MHz, Xeon X5660@3066MHz, Core i5-2500K@3400/4600MHz, and Core i3-540@4600MHz
• Cooling – Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition (RR-212S-20PK-R1)
• RAM for LGA 2011 – 4 x 8GB Samsung ECC REG 1333MHz (M393B1K70CH0-CH9Q5) with a total volume of 32GB
• RAM for LGA 1366 – 3 x 8GB HyperX Genesis Na’Vi Edition (KHX16C9C2K2/8) with a total volume of 24GB
• RAM for LGA 1155 – 2 x 8GB HyperX Genesis Na’Vi Edition (KHX16C9C2K2/8) with a total volume of 16GB
• RAM for LGA 1156 – 2 x 2GB Hynix 1333MHz (HMT325U7EFR8C-RD) + 2 x 1GB Patriot 1333MHz (PSD31G133381) with a total volume of 6GB
• Motherboard LGA 2011 – HP Z420 (HP 1589) (rev. 2.0)
• Motherboard LGA 1366 – DELL T3500 (09KPNV)
• Motherboard LGA 1155 – Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3 (rev. 2.0)
• Motherboard LGA 1156 – Gigabyte H55M-USB3
• Video card – Palit GeForce GTX 1060 DUAL 3GB (1506/1709/8000MHz, Power Limit 115%)
• Solid-state drive – KINGSTON 120GB SA400S37120G (Windows 10 1903/Applications)
• HDD – Seagate 2TB ST2000DM008-2FR102 (Games)
• Power supply – Chieftec GPS-1250C

A little clarification regarding the LGA1156 platform. The 32-nanometer Core i3 chip of the first generation did not want to “wind up” in any way with 8-gigabyte HyperX Genesis Na’Vi Edition bars. To my regret, I completely forgot that Clarkdale simply does not support this amount of RAM per channel.

It was because of this that I had to “clean up the rubble” and get at least two 2GB and two 1GB bars. Thus, I was able to gain the necessary minimum for the relatively adequate operation of the main games and applications, without destroying the dual-channel mode of operation of the RAM.

Software

• Windows 10 Pro v1903 x64
• CPU-z v1.90.0 x64
• AIDA64 v6.10.5200
• NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 436.30 WHQL
• V-Ray Benchmark v4.10.03
• Corona Benchmark v1.3
• Cinebench R11.5
• Cinebench R15.38
• Cinebench R20.060
• HWBot x265 Benchmark v2.0.0
• WinRar v5.8 Beta 2 x64
• 7-Zip v19.0 x64

Testing

Due to the weak GeForce GTX 1060 3GB graphics card, gaming tests were carried out at 1280 x 720 pixels. The graphics quality settings were set in such a way as to unload the GPU as much as possible and to reveal which of the processors is capable of preparing a greater number of frames per second for the video card:

Graphic settings:

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Battlefield V

Battlefield 1

Watch_Dogs 2

Remnant: From the Ashes

Destiny 2

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

First, let’s figure out how productive the processor is in professional applications and benchmarks:

Overall performance

The CPU-z information program has a built-in performance test for a long time. This benchmark is interesting in that it tests both single-threaded performance and multi-threaded.

Here, the E5-2670 is faster than its closest rival X5660 by 40% in a multi-threaded test and by 19.5% in a single-threaded load.

Rendering, Synthetics

Totally dominated by the Xeon E5-2670. In synthetics, it simply has no equal, although, of course, the price of the X5660 must be taken into account. I would also like to note the overclocked Core i5-2500K: at a frequency of 4600MHz, it shows extremely confident results and breathes in the back of the 12-thread X5660. If the laboratory sample could conquer the 5000 MHz frequency and remain stable at the same time, it is quite possible that it could overtake the Xeon X5660.

But this is synthetics, in real applications everything is not so rosy:

Rendering

The total dominance of the Xeon E5-2670 continues. And the overclocked Core i5-2500K no longer looks so confident against the background of the stock X5660. In Corona, its performance can be described as mediocre.

Video encoding

Converting a video file into an x265 container also does not bring any surprises and the E5-2670 processor is ahead by a wide margin. Its result of 24.6 fps is extremely impressive. Another thing is interesting – Core i5-2500K at 4600MHz shows virtually the same results as the stock X5660.

Archiving

If everything is clear with the indicators in 7-Zip, then WinRar gave me a surprise and shocked me. The 12-thread Xeon X5660 processor was able to twice overtake the Core i5 operating at 4600MHz. Moreover, overclocking the Core i5-2500K did not really help. “Excellent” optimization from the developers.

Games

To my surprise, in DX11 mode, both Battlefields were rather cold about the 8-core Xeon E5-2670. Most likely, in multiplayer the situation would be much more interesting, however, unfortunately, it is quite difficult to adequately test the hardware in a multiplayer game. And in Battlefield, it’s almost impossible to achieve a repeatable scenario.

In any case, in the future, when a more powerful video card appears in the laboratory, all tests will be carried out in DirectX 12.

Destiny 2’s engine is very specific and only supports four threads. Moreover, Hyper-Threading technology in this game leads to worse results. In any case, on relatively old processors.

Here the overclocked Core i5-2500K became the undisputed leader, and its stock version overtook the E5-2670 in terms of the minimum FPS indicator.

Remnant: From the Ashes is developed in Unreal Engine 4, which imposes certain restrictions. In DX11, the game is unable to load more than 4 threads, which leads to poor results for the Xeon E5-2670.

According to tests in the game Shadow of the Tomb Raider, it becomes clear that FPS is not always the correct indicator and you need to look at the picture itself. Below we have provided video confirmation of processor testing, where you can personally verify the “high” performance of the Core i5-2500K.

4-core processors are not always capable of rendering all the geometry present in the gaming scene. Because of this, at some point, they may show a higher frame rate than processors that have already loaded all the geometry into the video card.

But even that didn’t help the Core i5-2500K. Xeon E5-2670 showed an extremely confident minimum FPS, not inferior to the average.

Assasins Creed Odyssey is an extremely demanding game, both for the processor and the video card. Unfortunately, in our case the video card test came out.

But Watch_Dogs 2 is no longer so picky about the PC video subsystem. I would even say that this is one of the reference benchmarks of the processor. Here, the clear advantage of multi-core processors over high-frequency ones becomes obvious.

Among the tested processors, the Xeon E5-2670 shows the ultimate performance. Watch_Dogs 2 is a pleasure to play on this processor. The game does not freeze, and drops in the frame rate to 48 happen only in such busy areas, of which there are not so many in the game.

In the videos below, you can see firsthand the performance of the Xeon E5-2670 in gaming applications:

And in comparison with the Xeon X5660 at the stock frequency of 3066MHz, as well as the Core i5-2500K in the base mode and overclocked to 4600MHz:

At the very beginning of this material, I already mentioned the failure of the test video card GeForce GTX 1060 and as a result of the experiments, my words were confirmed. This is especially noticeable in the game Assasins Creed, which lacks not only the GPU power but also the amount of video memory.

Conclusions

The Xeon E5-2670 has performed well. Yes, in gaming applications, he did not particularly distinguish himself, but he has no equal in content creation, and given its price, which is at the level of Core i5-2500K, it becomes more difficult to look for cons.

In addition, multi-threaded applications are becoming more and more every day. And next year, next-gen consoles come out with 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen inside.

$60 for such high performance is ridiculous. Even if you are not satisfied with branded boards like HP, you can buy any board from Chinese manufacturers. Fortunately, now they are relatively reliable and inexpensive.