The Xeon W-3500 and Xeon W-2500, two new workstation processors that are built for AI development and said to be Intel’s most advanced yet, featuring up to 60 Performance-cores, up to a 4.8 GHz turbo frequency, and support for up to 4 TB of DDR5 memory, are available for order beginning today from industry partners (e.g., HP, Dell, and Lenovo), with system availability beginning in September, Intel has announced. The Intel Xeon W processor family starts at $609 with the Xeon w3-2525, scaling to $5,889 with the Xeon w9-3595X.
Platform features include:
- “Up to 4.8 gigahertz (GHz) turbo frequency on W-3500 and W-2500 workstation processors.”
- “Up to 112.5 megabytes (MB) (w9-3595X) and 48.75MB (w7-2595X) of L3 cache for better performance and data management – up from 105MB and 45MB in the prior generation, respectively.”
- “Eight channels of DDR5 RDIMM (up to 4,800 megatransfers per second) memory support enables up to 4 terabytes (TB) of memory capacity for large datasets and memory-intensive workloads.”
- “Continued support for ECC memory and RAS technologies that improve the integrity of critical data and system reliability.”
- “Up to 112 CPU PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes on Xeon W-3500 processors and up to 64 CPU PCIe Gen 5.0 on Xeon W-2500 processors for multi-GPUs, SSDs and network cards.”
- “3rd Generation Intel Deep Learning Boost (AMX, Bfloat16) and AVX-512 support powers improved artificial intelligence training and inferencing – up to 26% faster performance in crucial data science and AI development workloads.”
- “Integrated Intel Wi-Fi 6E for the latest network connectivity.”
- “Ongoing overclocking support for unlocked processors – including DDR5 XMP 3.0 RDIMM memory overclocking features.”
- “Intel vPro Enterprise technologies for hardware-enhanced security features, firmware version control and remote manageability, enabling easy system deployment into the enterprise environment.”
Intel Xeon W processors features at a glance:
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Expanded Core Architecture | Continuing to utilize Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) packaging technology to deliver a scalable architecture, increasing core counts in a single socket for the next generation of workstations. |
| Up to DDR5 ECC RDIMM 4800 MT/s | Delivers up to 4 TB of memory support for power savings, faster memory speeds, and higher memory bandwidth. |
| PCIe 5.0 up to 112 Lanes | Offers readiness for up to 224 GT/s for fast access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 112 PCI Express 5.0 lanes. |
| Increased L2 Cache and L3 Shared Intel Smart Cache | Up to 112.5 MB for increased performance and data management by reducing time spent swapping data between cache and memory. |
| Intel Deep Learning Boost | Accelerates training and inferencing of AI models, enabling developers’ end-to-end workflow. |
| Support for select Intel vPro Enterprise Technology | Give IT professionals the tools for easy system integration & management of workstation platforms into existing enterprise networks. |
| ECC Memory Support | Error-Correcting Code memory detects and corrects errors and improves the integrity of essential data without workflow interruption. |
| Intel Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 | Identifies the processor’s fastest cores and directs critical workloads to them. |
| Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 | Intelligently boosts the processor to run faster than its rated frequency as power, heat, and workload allow. |
Intel W790 chipset features at a glance:
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Support for Intel Xeon W-3500 Processors & Intel Xeon W-2500 Processors | |
| High Speed I/O Lanes | Up to 38 lanes for configuration flexibility and accelerated performance. |
| PCIe Express 3.0 Interface | Offers up to 8 GT/s for fast access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 12 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, configurable as x1, x2, and x4 depending on motherboard designs. |
| PCIe Express 4.0 Interface | Offers up to 16 GT/s for fast access to peripheral devices and networking with up to 16 PCI Express 4.0 lanes, configurable as x1, x2, and x4 depending on motherboard designs. |
| DMI | Supports faster data transfer with increased lanes of up to 8 Direct Media Interface Gen 4.0. |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 support provides data transfer performance with a design data rate of up to 20 Gb/s. |
| USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 support provides data transfer performance with a design data rate of up to 10 Gb/s. |
| USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 support provides data transfer performance with a design data rate of up to 5 Gb/s. |
| USB 2.0 | High-Speed USB 2.0 support with a design data rate of up to 480 Mb/s. |
| Serial ATA (SATA) 6 Gb/s | High-speed storage interface supporting up to 6 Gb/s transfer rates for optimal data access. |
| Intel Wi-Fi 6E Support | Integrated Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX211(Gig+) CNVi solution or Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX210(Gig+) solution allowing you to connect up to Gigabit Wi-Fi speeds. |
| Modern Manageability with Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) | Remote out-of-band management for efficient proactive and reactive system maintenance over Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections. |
| Intel Boot Guard | Supports cryptographically verified boot as recommended by Windows best security practices. |
| Intel Platform Trust Technology | Integrated Trusted Platform Module within Intel chipsets, supporting TPM 2.0 standard. |
Some performance claims from Intel:
The new Xeon W-3500 processor stack provides up to 60 Performance-cores and 120 threads of compute power – adding four to eight cores more than the equivalent W-3400 lineup and delivering up to 10% higher multithreaded performance gen-over-gen. The Xeon W-2500 processor stack brings up to 26 Performance-cores and 52 threads – adding two more cores across the stack versus the W-2400 lineup and providing up to 11% higher multithreaded performance gen-over-gen. As a bonus, the Xeon W-3500 and Xeon W-2500 product families deliver generational improvements while maintaining many existing price points across the stack.