4th Gen Intel Xeon W9-3495X – It’s a monster

Rating: 7.5.

Intel's 4th Gen Xeon aka Sapphire Rapids has had such a long and troubled gestation that these new CPUs use the same Golden Cove architecture as the 12th Gen Alder Lake Desktop CPUs that launched in November 2021. We know Sapphire Rapids is late but the question is whether this 56-core monster delivers the goods.

Time stamps
00:00 Start
00:53 Tech info
02:47 The hardware
04:20 ASRock BIOS
04:38 Some initial tests
06:51 From Noctua to custom loop
11:21 Overclocking the CPU
12:30 Performance / temps / power
18:14 Leo’s Closing Thoughts

In our video unboxing the 4th Gen Intel Xeon W9-3495X and W9-3475X we showed you the hardware and also covered Intel's recent history and some of the problems they faced during the development of Sapphire Rapids. Please take a look HERE.

Testing and Performance

The TLDR from our unboxing is that Intel has delivered a stack of 4th Gen Xeons in server and pre-built workstations and has now added the DIY workstation parts we have on review today. In a sense you could argue these are HEDT (High End Desktop) parts, however that argument only flies if you also consider AMD Threadripper Pro to be HEDT. To our way of thinking these are professional workstation parts that cost far more than any enthusiast might consider paying.

Test System:
Processor: 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable W9-3475X and W9-3495X
Motherboard: ASRock W790 WS BIOS 3.1
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH U14-S DX-4677
Thermal compound: Arctic MX-4
Memory: 64GB Kingston Fury Renegade Pro DDR5-6000MT ECC
Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6X
Power supply: Seasonic Vertex GX-1200
SSD: 1TB PNY XLR8 Gaming M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11

Custom Loop Cooling:
Pump/reservoir: EK Quantum Inertia D5 and EK XRES 140
CPU block: EK-Pro CPU WB 4677 Ni+Acetal
Radiator: EK Quantum Surface P360M
Fans: 3x Phanteks T30
Coolant: Alphacool Ocool Tec Protect Ultra Clear

In our performance and testing we have used some of the latest desktop CPUs as a point of reference, along with a recent round-up of AMD Threadripper Pro.

To read more about AMD Ryzen 9 7950X go HERE and for Ryzen 9 7950X3D go HERE.

Our most recent coverage of Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake is HERE

These photos of our test bench are purely for eye candy. Damn, this hardware looks purposeful.

Cinebench R23 Multi Core

In Cinebench R23 we see the overclocked Xeon W9-3495X taking the win however on Auto settings the 64-core Threadripper Pro beats the 56-core Xeon by a narrow margin.

CPU Power Draw in Cinebench R23

Power draw tells us pretty much everything we need to know. These new Xeons use the same cores as Intel's power-hungry desktop CPUs and the results look awful, even at these lowly clock speeds.

Cinebench R23 Single Core

Cinebench R23 Single Core demonstrates that Golden Cove performs well and gives us hope for Emerald Rapids later this year.

Blender v3 Classroom

In Blender the might Threadripper Pro 5995WX equals the overclocked Xeon W9-3495X, showing the strength of those extra cores.

CPU Temperature

The CPU temperature figures are impressively low for the workstation CPUs form both AMD and Intel.

Handbrake H.264

Handbrake throws up a curious result in our H.264 conversion test where the overclocked Xeons are followed by the desktop CPUs, and then we see the Xeons on Auto further down the chart.

Handbrake H.265

Handbrake H.265 conversion is also curious as it appears to reward a combination of cache and clock speed, with the consequence that the Xeons on Auto look rather poor.

7-Zip v22

In 7-Zip we used v22 of the software to allow the Xeon W9-3495X to stretch its legs and use all 56 cores and 112 threads. The result is a pleasing win in an unfair battle.

AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth

Seeing the Threadripper Pro in action with many channels of DDR4 reminds us that bandwidth is about more than clock speed or Mega Transfers. Let's hope we get to work with 4th Gen Xeon and Octa Channel DDR5.

Borderlands 3 at 1440p

How many cores do you need for gaming? the answer, in Borderlands 3 seems to be '16 is fine thanks.' Having said that, the Xeons do a tolerable job performing this unreasonable task.

Far Cry 6 at 1440p

In Far Cry 6 at 1440p we unexpectedly see the Xeon W9-3495X fighting hard with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. It seems you can indeed combine work and play.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p

Normal service is resumed in Shadow of the Tomb Raider where 3D cahce wins the cache and high clock speeds deliver the goods.

Closing Thoughts

Before we started testing for this review we deliberately tempered our hopes. After all, we are effectively dealing with the P-cores from seven 12th Gen Core i7 or Core i9 CPUs in a very large package, and that sounds like a very curious combination. Even so, we were shocked to see a CPU power draw of 495W at a mere 2.9GHz and this is especially true when you consider the W-3400 family of CPUs are officially rated at 350W.

Our takeaway is that 4th Gen Xeon can easily run at higher clock speeds, however the brutal power draw is a major limitation. We have to hope the Emerald Rapids update will move things in the correct direction and after that Granite Rapids on the Intel 4 process should make further progress on power efficiency. The obvious point is that AMD is a moving target and Intel has an obligation to hit its targets and deliver on its promises.

Pros:

• Impressive performance from the high core count models.
• The price is competitive with AMD.
• CPU temperatures are icy cold.

Cons:

• Clock speeds are held back by the high power draw.
• The power draw is far too high compared to AMD.
• Sapphire Rapids has suffered delay after delay.

KitGuru says: Intel has returned to HEDT but we need improvements from their 5th Gen technology later this year.

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