Some sleuthing by CPU-World has uncovered the list of to-be-released Kaby Lake single-socket quad-core Xeons. As it to be expected, these are incremental updates from Skylake-based Xeons using the newer 14nm Plus node from Intel. In our consumer Kaby Lake reviews, our results showed that the new design offers a better voltage/frequency profile than previous generations, affording more frequency at the same voltage. Another big change from the previous generation is the TDP: what used to be 80W is now listed as 73W if it has integrated graphics, or 72W if it does not.
The list from CPU-World, which comes via QVL (qualified vendor list, or ‘CPUs which we confirm work in this board’) postings from motherboards such as MSI’s C236M Workstation, features eight processors. The two at the bottom of the stack are quad core parts without hyperthreading, and the others do have hyperthreading. The main differences between the processors will be frequencies and the presence of integrated graphics.
| Intel E3-1200 v6 CPUs (Kaby Lake) | ||||||
| C/T | Base Freq | L3 Cache | IGP | IGP Freq | TDP | |
| E3-1280 v6 | 4/8 | 3.9 GHz | 8 MB | – | – | 72 W |
| E3-1275 v6 | 4/8 | 3.8 GHz | 8 MB | P630 | 1150 MHz | 73 W |
| E3-1270 v6 | 4/8 | 3.8 GHz | 8 MB | – | – | 72 W |
| E3-1245 v6 | 4/8 | 3.7 GHz | 8 MB | P630 | 1150 MHz | 73 W |
| E3-1240 v6 | 4/8 | 3.7 GHz | 8 MB | – | – | 72 W |
| E3-1230 v6 | 4/8 | 3.5 GHz | 8 MB | – | – | 72 W |
| E3-1225 v6 | 4/4 | 3.3 GHz | 8 MB | P630 | 1150 MHz | 73 W |
| E3-1220 v6 | 4/4 | 3.0 GHz | 8 MB | – | – | 72 W |
Most of these numbers come direct from the motherboard validation lists, with some such as core count being derived from L2 cache listings. All the parts listed have a full 8MB of L3 cache, indicating they run closer to the Core i7 design rather than a Core i5 (even those that have hyperthreading disabled).
On the integrated graphics models, i.e. those ending in ‘5’, are all running Intel HD P630 graphics and run up to 1150 MHz. This is the ‘professional’ version of the HD630 we see on the consumer parts, using Intel’s latest Gen9 graphics architecture and supporting H.265 encode/decode. Our Kaby Lake review piece goes into more detail.
Not listed are the turbo frequencies of the CPUs, as these are currently unknown. Neither is the pricing, however given previous launches we would expect the tray price (OEM batches of a thousand CPUs) to have parity compared to previous generations.
| Intel E3-1200 v6 and v5 CPUs | ||||
| IGP | v6 | Model | v5 | IGP |
| – | 3.9, 72W | E3-1280 | 3.7/4.0, 80W | – |
| + | 3.8, 73W | E3-1275 | 3.6/4.0, 80W | + |
| – | 3.8, 72W | E3-1270 | 3.6/4.0, 80W | – |
| – | – | E3-1260L | 2.9/3.9, 45W | – |
| + | 3.7, 73W | E3-1245 | 3.5/3.9, 80W | + |
| – | 3.7, 72W | E3-1240 | 3.5/3.9, 80W | – |
| – | – | E3-1240L | 2.1/3.2, 25W | – |
| – | – | E3-1235L | 2.0/3.0, 25W | + |
| – | 3.5, 72W | E3-1230 | 3.4/3.8, 80W | – |
| + | 3.3, 73W | E3-1225 | 3.3/3.7, 80W | + |
| – | 3.0, 72W | E3-1220 | 3.0/3.5, 80W | – |
For the most part, the new processors are ~200 MHz faster than the v5 parts while still being rated at the lower TDP. Memory support is expected to be the same as the consumer parts (DDR4-2400), and it is not yet confirmed if the v6 processors will support Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) given issues in previous revisions, so we will wait on future Intel announcements on this front.
It is still worth noting that for LGA1151 based Xeons, Intel adjusted the requirements such that Xeon processors require a server grade chipset on the motherboard. For Skylake E3 v5 parts, this was either a C232 or C236 chipset – we reviewed a few motherboards with these on (ASRock E3V5 Gaming, GIGABYTE Z170X-Extreme ECC). With a BIOS update, these C232/C236 motherboards should support the new v6 processors. However, we currently do not know if there will be a second generation of chipsets for these CPUs in line with the consumer updates. On the consumer side the new chipset has additional PCIe lanes and Optane Memory support, so we stand in wait for a new desktop chipset to support these. There is a new mobile chipset, CM238, for mobile E3 v6 Xeons, but no equivalent in the desktop space yet.
We currently have all the Skylake E3 v5 Xeons in for testing on our new benchmark suite soon, and we’ll make similar moves to acquire the Kaby Lake E3 v6 models when they are released. Currently there is no word on release date or pricing, however we typically see the E3 Xeons release very shortly after the consumer processor release.
Source: CPU-World
