Intel Xeon W-2200 Series Launch SKUs and Value Analysis

We recently saw the announcement of the Intel Xeon W-2200 series processors. These are LGA2066 parts that can have up to 18 cores and 36 threads. What is perhaps most intriguing, is that the chips followed a similar trend set by the new Intel Core i9 platform, dramatically lowering costs. It is time for our SKU list and value analysis.

Looking at the Intel Xeon W-2200 Series Full Stack

There are a total of eight SKUs in the Intel Xeon W-2200 series stack. Here is the basic table:

Unlike in previous generations, all SKUs will have a full 48 PCIe lanes. Almost all support DDR4-2933 RDIMMs. The exception is the Intel Xeon W-2223 which supports only DDR4-2666. There is 1TB of memory capacity. Those looking for Intel Optane DCPMM support should look to the mainstream Xeon. Intel de-featured the memory controllers on the Xeon W-2200 series to not support DCPMM.

Looking at the chips themselves, we wanted to see how the SKU stack is crafted. Here is a look at the core count of each SKU multiplied by the base clock speed in GHz.

As you can see, there is a fairly linear progression, except wit the Intel Xeon W-2225 and Xeon W-2223. There, the curve flattens out. That is not going to be the only place we see those two SKUs show an outlier.

Here we are simply using a dollar per core metric:

Perhaps the most fascinating is that the Intel Xeon W-2295, by this metric, is the best value of the bunch. Normally we see the dollar per core increase into higher core counts, but this is the opposite. Again, we also see the Xeon W-2225 as an outlier with a steep dollar per core metric.

Now we are going to use the total execution capacity, approximated by threads and clock speeds adjusted for Hyper-Threading threads and the relative costs:

The Intel Xeon W-2223, by this metric, is the outlier. It is only $294 so despite the lower clock speeds the cost side of the equation helps versus the Xeon W-2225. We also will note that we use base clock frequencies here where there is a smaller delta. The Xeon W-2223 is at 3.9GHz Turbo clock while the rest of the range is in the 4.5GHz to 4.6GHz range.

One of the newer charts we are making that we started with the AMD EPYC 7002 SKU List and Value Analysis, is a TDP per core figure.

Here the Intel Xeon W-2295 is significantly more efficient. There are contributing factors. Regardless of the core count, basic infrastructure such as memory and PCIe controllers needs to be enabled on a platform. Also, the Intel Xeon W-2295 has a 3.0GHz base frequency.

Final Words

Overall, we like this line. The pricing is significantly more competitive than the Intel Xeon W-3200 series at this point. We also think this type of pricing will make many buyers shopping at the higher-end of the Xeon E-2100/ E-2200 series take a look at these SKUs. They are perhaps the first higher-end parts that Intel has rationalized pricing against AMD’s offerings. Competition is good for the industry but the period of switching from a less competitive to a more competitive market means that some of Intel’s lines are behind the Xeon W-2200 series’ more competitive pricing model.