Why do we use Xeon processors?

What is Xeon?

Xeon (pronounced ZEE-ahn ) is a 400 MHz Pentium microprocessor from Intel for use in "mid-range" enterprise servers and workstations. On a server motherboard from Intel, up to eight (and later even more), Xeon processors will be able to do multiprocessing sharing the same 100 Mhz bus. Xeon is replacing the Pentium Pro as Intel's main enterprise microchip. Xeon is designed for Internet and large transactional database servers as well as for engineering, graphics, and multimedia applications that require moving a lot of data around quickly. Xeon is the high end of the Pentium line ( Celeron is the low end).

What are the features of Xeon?

1. A faster L1 and L2 cache, either 512 Kbytes or 1 Mbyte, that runs at the same 400 Mhz clock speed of the processor.
2. A faster bus to carry data between the processor, RAM, and I/O devices. The 450NX PCIset is a chipset that works at a 100 Mhz clock speed and supports up to 8 GB of extended data output RAM memory.
3. A larger Accelerated Graphics Port ( AGP ) chipset called the 440GX AGPset that also runs at 100 Mhz. It supports 2 GB of 100 Mhz SDRAM.
4. An extended server memory architecture that provides for 36-bit addresses, allowing up to 64 GB of physical memory to be addressed.
5. Everything premounted in a motherboard package for faster manufacturing.

What are the Intel Xeon Processors and their Use:

Intel Xeon processors are high-performance processors made for workstations and servers. They are processors that are made for the non-consumer market. They have a lot of cores, large cache, high-bandwidth and can support a large amount of RAM.

These features make Intel Xeon processors handle intensive processing tasks for a long period of time without suffering from any problems.

Consumer-made processors are not able to handle intensive tasks for long periods of time because such tasks cause high temperatures which can destroy the chip or thermal throttle.

Intel Xeon Processors Uses: Xeon processors are the answer to heavy-duty chores that need constant processing power.

They are the go-to processors for artificial intelligence, servers, 3D modeling,  rendering, content creation. Web servers like AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, etc. all rely on Intel Xeon processors for cloud computing.

What makes Intel Xeon Processors different from other Intel Processors:

Xeon processors have higher core count, support error-correcting code (ECC) RAM and are able to support a high amount of memory they are the preferred processors for enterprises.

1. Differences Between CPU Cores Vs CPU Threads Vs Logical Processors: Most processors support up to 64 GB of memory. Intel Xeon processors are able to support up to 512 GB of DDR4 memory (this will go higher in the future). In servers and workstations, a high amount of memory is needed because of large data sets that require to be processed very quickly.

In the case of servers, insufficient memory can lead to server crashes and a major slowdown of the whole server.

What Is Hyper-Threading?

Intel Xeon processors also have a high number of cores. The Intel Xeon W-5175X has 28 cores and 56 threads with a hyper-threading feature supported. This allows a single CPU core to act as two CPU cores.

On average, Intel Xeon processors have better performance and are able to complete intensive tasks very quickly as compared to consumer processors. Base clock speeds are high and with the help of Turbo Boost technology, it is able to go above 4 GHz.

2. The Xeon processors were designed to destroy multi-core and multi-threaded applications. This makes perfect for video editing, artificial intelligence, 3D modeling, and rendering.

A special feature called Error-Correcting Code (ECC) Memory. According to Intel Error-Correcting Code (ECC), Memory helps in the detection and correction of single-bit memory errors which can lead to corruption of data or cause system crash.

It's the most prominent feature of the Xeon processors is to support ECC memory. As far as I am aware all Xeons have supported that, and the protection ECC provides against single-bit memory errors (which it can detect and correct on the fly) is critical for systems where uptime and reliability are key. A few mainstream Intel processors have also supported ECC over the years if used with the right chipset/motherboard, but to ensure you have proper support for this technology it is best to go with a Xeon.

Multiple CPUs: Some applications can benefit amazingly from having either a lot of processor cores, a large amount of memory, or high memory bandwidth (or all three). In such situations, a system with more than one CPU can be a great way to go., but mainstream processors like the Core series don’t support that. Many Xeons do, though, through added on-chip logic to facilitate communication between the CPUs so that they can share access to memory and coordinate workloads. Each CPU in such a configuration has its own memory controller and set of memory modules, plus its processing cores, so you gain in both raw computing capacity as well as the amount of memory that can be installed (capacity) and moved around at the same time (bandwidth). 

Higher Core Counts: In addition to the potential for using more than one CPU in a system to increase threaded workload performance, some Xeons simply feature more cores than anything on the more mainstream side of Intel’s processor lines. Currently, the Core i3 processors top out at two cores, Core i5 at four core, Core i7 at eight cores, but the Xeon E5 series goes up to eighteen cores! As you climb in core count the base clock speed goes down somewhat, and cost goes up due to complexity, but heavily threaded applications can see big boosts from those added cores.

 Those are a few good reasons to go with a Xeon based system, though not all of them. There are other factors like remote management, multiple and/or high-speed network ports, and more which are found on the server and workstation-class motherboards populated by Xeons.