Intel Xeon w7-2595x Review: All P-Core Pro Workstation Power
For the 3DMark Physics test, we simply create a custom 3DMark run consisting solely of the physics test, which is multi-threaded and CPU dependent, and report the results...
UL 3DMark CPU Physics Benchmark
3DMark's Physics test loves Intel's hybrid Raptor Lake architecture, as evidenced by the 14th Gen Core processors' massive performance lead here. The rest of the processors are tightly grouped, with the Xeon w7-2595X landing about in the middle of the pack when using default / optimized BIOS settings. Our ASUS motherboard has a setting in its "Tweaker's Paradise" menu labled "Performance Mode" that is off by default. The description for the option says, "Performance Mode enhances Processor's lighter work load performance...", but doesn't explain how. With that option enabled, there's a massive uplift in performance here. We suspect it allows cores to boost to maximum frequencies for longer periods when fewer cores are utilized, similar to how the latest desktop processor operate.
High And Low Resolution Gaming & Graphics Benchmarks
We also ran some mid and high-resolution game and graphics benchmarks on our test rigs with 3DMark, F1 2024, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail and The Talos Principle 2. We used 3DMark's default Time Spy preset, and the games were run in two different configurations — either 1080p with Medium/High details, or 4K with High/Extreme details. The lower resolution tests are designed to be more CPU bound to better isolate processor performance, while the higher resolution tests are more GPU bound, where the CPU should have less of an impact.
3DMark Time Spy does not play well with the many-core workstation processors for the most part. The Threadripper and Xeon W processors fall to the bottom of the heap here with default settings, with the Xeon w7-2595X outperforming only the w9-3495X. Enabling Performance Mode in the BIOS flips the script though, and the Xeon w7-2595X jumps up the stack.
In our 1080p game tests, the Xeon w7-2595X outruns its previous-gen counterparts and doesn't falter in F1 2024 or the UE5-based Talos Principle II, but Dawntrail shows that gaming is not this archiecture's strong suit.
That said, upping the resolution and image quality to shift the performance bottleneck onto the GPU shows that gaming can still be a thing on professional workstations. With higher image quality settings and the game resolution increased to 4K, the games are effectively GPU bound, frame rates level off, and all of the platforms we tested performed similarly.
Intel Xeon W Workstation Processor Power Consumption
Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we also monitored how much power our test rigs were consuming with a power meter. Our goal here is to give you an idea as to how much power each configuration used while idling at the Windows desktop and while under taxing CPU workloads across one or all cores. Keep in mind, this is total system power consumption being measured at the outlet and not the the individual power being drawn by the CPUs alone.
With two additional cores and the ability to maintain higher clocks that its predecessors, the Xeon w7-2595X consumes significantly more power than the w7-2495X, but it ultimately uses less power than the 32-core Threadripper 7970X and much less power than the 56-core Xeon w9-3495X. Considering the immense multi-thread horsepower on tap here though, peak power consumption under load is not out of whack relative to its peers. Idle power is a different story, however. Idle power on the Intel Xeon W platform is relatively high, especially in-light of the leading-edge mainstream desktop platforms.
Intel Xeon w7-2595X Hardware Details - 3DMark
How power, frequencies, and thermals are affected in a variety of workloads with the Intel Xeon w7-2595X is presented in the charts above. What you see here are frequencies, temps, and utilization over the course of a couple 3DMark Time Spy and PCMark Applications benchmark runs. The CPU clock during the 3DMark run shows relatively small variations, and remains in the 4GHz throughout. With the varied PCMark workloads, the Xeon w7-2595X's frequencies bounce between its base 2.8GHz and boost 4.6GHz range whenever the CPU is under load. The CPU temperature also remains relatively low throughout, and hovers mostly in the low-50°C / high-40°C range save for some small blips. We're using a 360mm Enermax cooler on the test rig that has no trouble handling the Xeon w7-2595X's thermal output.
