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We didn't receive these processors with any retail packaging as they arrived straight from the Intel factory.
The Xeon E5 is one of the most complex processors that Intel have designed to date. The E5 2687W has 8 physical cores, each of which have hyperthreading support to offer a total of 16 threads. Therefore in a dual CPU configuration there are 16 physical cores with a total of 32 threads.
The E5 2687w has a massive 20MB Level 3 cache onboard, even more than the Core i7 3960K Extreme Edition. Officially it has support for memory rated to 1,600mhz in a Quad Channel configuration. There are 40 PCIe plus 4 V2 lanes and two high speed QPI links.
The Xeon E7 range of processors are designed for use in 4 socket and higher servers, so the E5 has to cover a wider gamut of deployment situations.
The Xeon E5 2600 is the first CPU to truly integrate the IOH functionality for 40 lanes of PCIe Gen3.
The E5 2687W slots into the top of the E5 range – clocked at 3.1ghz and with a TDP rating of 150W. Confusingly the ‘higher named' E5-2690 is clocked at a slower 2.9ghz but with the same turbo frequency of 3.8ghz. It consumes less power (135W) and is therefore better suited for 24/7 server use. The ‘W' moniker of the 2687W indicates the suitability for a Workstation environment.
Both processors should be very closely matched, but the 2687W has a higher standard clock speed, so will have a slight edge depending on the given situation.
The Quad channel IMC in the Xeon E5 also supports DDR3 LRDIMM to allow for densities up to 768GB – 24 x 32GB modules. Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 is incorporated which helps improve performance while maintaining a dynamic, efficient power curve.
