Intel Unleashes Xeon W-2200 Series CPUs With Price Cuts, Up To 18 Cores For Creators And Enthusiasts
Intel on Monday unveiled a bunch of new Xeon W-2200 series processors at comparatively aggressive price points. The new Glacier Falls CPUs range in core and thread count from 4-cores/8-threads up to 18-cores/36-threads, and are up to around 50 percent less expensive than the previous generation Xeon W-2100 series.
Increased competition from rival AMD has seen Intel shake up pricing on its higher end processors. We saw this last week with the introduction of Intel's newest Core-X series high-end desktop (HEDT) processors based on Cascade Lake-X, which also saw MSRPs slashed up to to 50 percent compared to the previous generation Skylake-X lineup.
Intel Xeon W-2200 Series Models, Specs, And Pricing
There are eight new Glacier Falls Xeon processors based on Intel's Cascade Lake-X architecture. A pair of 4-core/8-thread CPUs sit at the bottom of the stack, followed by 6-core/12-thread, 8-core/16-thread, 10-core/20-thread, 12-core/24-thread, 14-core/28-thread, and 18-core/36-thread options. Pricing starts at $294 and go up to $1,333.
To put the prices into perspective, here is how the new lineup (in bold) compares to the previous generation Xeon W family...
- Intel Xeon W-2295: 18 cores / 36 threads, 3.0GHz to 4.8GHz, $1,333
- Intel Xeon W-2195: 18 cores / 36 threads, 2.3GHz to 4.3GHz, $2,553
- Intel Xeon W-2275: 14 cores / 28 threads, 3.3GHz to 4.8GHz, $1,112
- Intel Xeon W-2175: 14 cores / 28 threads, 2.5GHz to 4.3GHz, $1,947
- Intel Xeon W-2265: 12 cores / 24 threads, 3.5GHz to 4.8GHz, $944
- Intel Xeon W-2555: 10 cores / 20 threads, 3.7GHz to 4.7GHz, $778
- Intel Xeon W-2155: 10 cores / 20 threads, 3.3GHz to 4.5GHz, $1,440
- Intel Xeon W-2245: 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.9GHz to 4.7GHz, $667
- Intel Xeon W-2145: 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.7GHz to 4.5GHz, $1,113
- Intel Xeon W-2235: 6 cores / 12 threads, 3.8GHz to 4.3GHz, $555
- Intel Xeon W-2135: 6 cores / 12 threads, 3.7GHz to 4.5GHz, $835
- Intel Xeon W-2133: 6 cores / 12 threads, 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz, $617
- Intel Xeon W-2225: 4 cores / 8 threads, 4.1GHz to 4.5GHz, $444
- Intel Xeon W-2125: 4 cores / 8 threads, 4GHz to 4.5GHz, $444
- Intel Xeon W-2223: 4 cores / 8 threads, 3.6GHz to 3.7GHz, $294
- Intel Xeon W-2123: 4 cores / 8 threads, 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz, $294
Pricing at the very bottom of the stack is the the same as before, but as you go up the totem pole, the cost per core/thread drops significantly with the new Glacier Falls lineup. In addition, the newest silicon features faster clockspeeds in a lot of cases.
Intel Xeon W-2200 Series Features
Intel's new lineup follows the launch of its Xeon W-3200 series in June, which range in core and thread count from 8 cores and 16 threads, to 28 cores and 56 threads. Like those, the Xeon W-2200 series is built on an enhanced 14 nanometer manufacturing process (14nm++).
These CPUs boost up to 4.8GHz, aided by Intel's Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0. They also offer support for up to 1TB of DDR4-2933 memory (up from DDR4-2666 previously), along with support for Intel's 2.5G LAN and Wi-Fi 6 controllers.
Overall, the Xeon W-2200 lineup is similar to Intel's latest Core X-series, but with the addition of certain workstation relevant features, such as ECC memory support, Intel vPro, and RAS features. They also use the same LGA2066 socket as the previous generation.
In addition to all this, Intel is pushing the artificial intelligence (AI) angle with Deep Learning Boost. Intel claims its Xeon W-2200 series can whip through images up to 2.2 times faster than the previous generation, resulting in faster image tagging, and up to 16.1 times faster than a workstation that is three years old.
Intel Xeon W-2200 Performance
Intel is taking aim at professional content creators and enthusiasts with its Xeon W-2200 series. To that end, the company claims these new CPUs edit 4K video up to 11 percent faster, render 3D architectures up to 10 percent faster, and compile game code up to 10 percent faster, compared to the previous generation.
"For professional creators, the Intel Xeon W-2200 platform is the ultimate option. These eight
new processors (W-2295, W-2275, W-2265, W-2255, W-2245, W-2235, W-2225, and W-2223)
deliver outstanding performance and expanded platform capabilities for data science, visual
effects, 3D rendering, complex 3D CAD, AI development and edge deployments. They can be
used in configurable form-factors—from small desktop to towers—as well as include built-in
platform security features and reliability, such as ECC support and Intel vPro, which creative
professionals demand," Intel says.
The new Xeon W-2200 series processors will be available in November 2019.
