New Xeon D: 8 cores/16 threads, 2.0/2.6GHz turbo, 45W

[pxc]

Johan at AnandTech likes it a lot: http://www.anandtech.com/print/9185/intel-xeon-d-review-performance-per-watt-server-soc-champion

The Xeon D is a Broadwell based chip made to fit between the E3 and E5 models, and for use in high density servers. It also gets most of the RAS features missing in Xeon E3 models.

That's fine and everything, but too bad it's not available in consumer systems, especially as a 65W model running at higher speeds (like 3.0/3.6 turbo). Besides the 2 memory channel limitation (128GB max), it looks like it could be a nice desktop chip if the clocks were nudged up a bit. It's a BGA package processor and only SuperMicro seems to be selling boards and servers with it in the channel. Lack of multiple PCIe slots kind of kills it for desktop use on those SuperMicro products since the chip itself can support up to 32 PCIe 2.0/3.0 lanes.

 

[aphexcoil]

A quick web search shows that these boards are very hard to find yet apparently are already released.

 

[pxc]

I saw a few on google shopping. Search for the CPU model name shown in the ark link.

 

[Trimlock]

You can find it for $800'ish. I really want to get this, I'm hoping as time goes on we see more OEMs pick it up.

 

[aphexcoil]

After looking at the price and performance features, it is pretty insane that you can now get a mini-ITX 8 core Xeon with support for 128 GB ECC memory and 10 Gb NIC for $800. Actually, this would make a kick-ass database server for the cheap. I'll have to look at it more closely, but it has an M.2. PCI 3.0 x4 which means it will support the faster SSD speeds.

Consuming only 90 watts at capacity is phenomenal for the amount of power you get from it. And it's mini-ITX.

 

[sethk]

Would make a decent VM host platform for lab use, with memory being the most obvious bottleneck. Intriguing. Shows what Intel can do - if they wanted to, they could easily release this with fewer restrictions, but that would eat into their other established markets.

 

[Netwerkz101]

Would make a decent VM host platform for lab use, with memory being the most obvious bottleneck. Intriguing. Shows what Intel can do - if they wanted to, they could easily release this with fewer restrictions, but that would eat into their other established markets.

Why do you say memory is a bottleneck?

 

[Trimlock]

Would make a decent VM host platform for lab use, with memory being the most obvious bottleneck. Intriguing. Shows what Intel can do - if they wanted to, they could easily release this with fewer restrictions, but that would eat into their other established markets.

Memory isn't a bottleneck with this, actually if you needed more memory you would move to this type of platform.

 

[rtangwai]

Why do you say memory is a bottleneck?

'Cuz 128GB isn't enough if you have lots of VMs eg. Citrix.

 

[Netwerkz101]

'Cuz 128GB isn't enough if you have lots of VMs eg. Citrix.

Ahh... I see ... capacity, not speed, bottleneck.

I got away with 32GB for the longest in my Citrix VM Lab

I didn't push over the edge until I started playing with XenDesktop (and XenApp 7.x).
I was pretty generous with RAM too.

Of course in production environments ..you'd have multiple systems anyhow

I had my eye on the new Supermicro D1540 offering ...but I need more versatility for
my next lab build so I "X" it.

 

[sethk]

'Cuz 128GB isn't enough if you have lots of VMs eg. Citrix.

That is exactly what I meant, capacity, not throughput. For windows servers and backoffice (exchange, SQL, SharePoint, System Center etc.), the ratio of RAM : CPU cores is pretty high. I often simulate customer production environments in a lab, or practice high availability setups, and RAM gets gobbled up like candy. In reality, 128GB is OK for today, on a 8 core / 16 thread machine, but that is for 2013-era servers. When the 2016 wave comes out, it will fall short for my use and a for a lot of windows-server supporting IT infrastructure.