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The Xeon E5-2687W v2 is the new king of Intel's eight-core workstation processor range, aimed at dual-socket systems.
Its release coincides with the introduction of the first 12-core Xeon E5's, although these are considerably more expensive while running at a significantly lower clock than the fastest eight-core parts. So unless you are purely using applications that benefit more from lots of cores than clock speed, such as rendering, the eight-core Xeons will give you greater all-round ability.
All of the new processors use the Ivy Bridge-EP variant of Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture. They are produced using a 22nm process. The more recent Haswell core also uses this process, but has an updated core, which is currently only available for Xeons aimed at single-processor systems, notebooks and mainstream desktops. Intel has famously operated a “Tick-Tock” strategy for some years now, where new architectures and die size reductions are alternated. So Ivy Bridge is essentially a shrunken version of the previous Sandy Bridge generation.
It does have some notable enhancements, particularly in the integrated graphics department, but few Xeons offer this facility.
So the Xeon E5-2687W v2 is essentially a shrinkage of the originally E5-2687W. But the reduction in size has some notable benefits. For a start, the original processor ran at a nominal 3.1GHz, whilst the new version operates at 3.4GHz.
Both offer Intel Turbo Boost modes, but whilst the first iteration can operate a single core at 3.8GHz, version 2 increases this to 4GHz, and all cores can run at 3.6GHz for extended periods. The new Xeon also runs cooler than the previous version, despite having the same 150W TDP rating, and Supermicro has taken advantage of this by employing passive CPU heat sinks rather than active ones, using the chassis airflow to take the heat away from these.
It also means there is headroom for increased frequencies, while at the same time reducing the number of moving parts (and, by implication, failure points).
The Supermicro motherboard supports Hyper-Speed, which means processor speeds can be enhanced for additional performance. Supermicro has used this feature on the SuperWorkstation to increase the Xeon clocks by 4 per cent, so both are running at a nominal 3.536GHz, with parallel 4 per cent improvements to Turbo Boost frequencies as well.
It's worth noting that the new chips also support 1,866MHz DDR3 memory, but Supermicro didn't have the appropriate qualified ECC Registered memory for its motherboard at the time of review. Instead, eight 8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 DIMMs were supplied, for a grand total of 64GB. This will be sufficient for the time being, but there are two banks of four slots for each of the two processors, so eight more slots are free for upgrade.
The X9DAX-iF motherboard supports up to 1TB of RAM, too, so there is effectively unlimited opportunity for improvement in this area.
