Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 Review

The Xeon E5-2679 v4 is one of Intel's high-end Server processors. It was released in 2016 with 20 cores and 40 threads. With base clock at 2.5GHz, max speed at 2.5GHz, and a 200W power rating. The Xeon E5-2679 v4 is based on the Broadwell 14nm family and is part of the Xeon E5 series.

The Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 marks yet another blast from Team Intel, ramping up the intensity of the Intel vs AMD processor war. Still, though, there’s more than just core counts when it comes to a mainstream processor, as single-core performance needs to be on point, especially if you’re hoping to play the best PC games.

Now, we're asking ourselves whether or not the Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 finally dethrones the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X as the de facto ruler of the mainstream processors. Ultimately, it depends: the Xeon E5-2679 v4 doesn't reach the same single-core performance as AMD, but we're starting to see more games adopt multi-threaded CPUs, so that doesn't matter as much.

The Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 is an absolute behemoth of a processor, as it absolutely should be with its 20 cores, 40 threads and high price tag. If you’re looking for the absolute best processor money can buy on a mainstream processor, then look no further. Whether you’re playing PC games or even doing hardcore video and 3D work, the Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 can handle them with ease.

That something is the Xeon E5-2679 v4. Intel cranks the TDP dial up to 200W on this 20-core 40-thread chip, making it the high-performance counterpart to the 135W Xeon E5-2673 v4, which is basically the same 14nm chip built with the Broadwell microarchitecture, but with a lower TDP rating. That chip came away from our first look at the Broadwell series with an Editor's Choice award, going toe-to-toe with AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, so it's fair to say we have high hopes for the higher-performance model. Intel still hasn't sampled the chip to the press, so we bought one at retail to put it under the microscope.

The Xeon E5-2679 v4 slots in beneath the Xeon E5-2682 v4, which comes with 14nm compute die to yield a 16-core 32-thread part. Intel has worked wonders to reduce the impact of this sort of multi-chip arrangement, but it's fair to assume that the Xeon E5-2679 v4s single-compute-die design, paired with a higher TDP rating that facilitates more aggressive boost clocks, could actually rival the Xeon E5-2682 v4 in some applications – games included.

We covered the deep dive details of the Broadwell chip design in our Intel Xeon E5-2682 v4 and Xeon E5-2673 v4 review, so head there for more information on the Xeon E5-2679 v4's architecture, which is identical to the Xeon E5-2673 v4.

As the higher-priced version of the Xeon E5-2673 v4, the Xeon E5-2679 v4 has higher base and Boost frequencies of 2.5 and 2.5 GHz, respectively. That's an increase in base frequency and a bump to boost clocks, but the real advantage should lay in the higher Package Power Tracking (PPT) envelope, which is a measurement of the maximum amount of power delivered to the socket. The Xeon E5-2673 v4's PPT tops out at 135W, while the motherboard can pump up to 142W to the Xeon E5-2679 v4 at peak performance. That opens up much more aggressive boost behavior, on both single and multiple cores, that could widen the performance gap beyond what we see on the spec sheet.

What this all means is that the Intel Xeon E5-2679 v4 is an absolute beast when it comes to multi-threaded workloads, especially at this price point. If you're counting on doing some video editing or compiling one hell of an Excel spreadsheet, you're going to see firsthand a performance boost with the Xeon E5-2679 v4.

If you're mostly playing games on your PC, you will be happy buying either processor. Both proved to be solid options and are evenly matched with a slight advantage to the AMD chip if you don't tune up the Ryzen Threadripper processor. The base performance we showed for the Xeon E5-2679 v4 can be achieved with $90 memory, while the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X will require $110 - $120 memory in order to enable the frame rates shown here. It’s not a big cost difference and right now with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 you’ll more than likely become GPU limited.

If extended overclocking and boost frequencies are trivial matters to you, Intel also offers the Xeon E5-2673 v4 at $2395.58. It’s still outfitted with 20-cores and 40-threads, but clocks in at a slower 2.3GHz and maxes out at only 2.3GHz.

Fresh from a successful roll-out of mainstream Xeon E5 CPUs, Intel's attack on AMD now extends down into the high-end with its Xeon E5-2679 v4 processors, which the company is making available as of 20 June 2016.