How to Save $6000 on a 28-core Flagship Intel Xeon: Platinum 8280 vs Gold 6258R
by Dr. Ian Cutress on August 7, 2020 8:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Benchmarks
For this test, we’ve run through our updated suite of benchmarks, as part of our #CPUOverload project. As this isn’t a strict review of the processors, more of a comparison article to see if they perform the same, then each benchmark is relatively binary– yes it performs the same, or no they don’t (and which one is better). For these tests, we fired up our single socket LGA3647 testbed.
| AnandTech LGA3647 Test Bed | |||||
| AnandTech | COLUMN | ||||
| CPU | Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 Intel Xeon Gold 6258R |
28C/56T 28C/56T |
2.7-4.0G 2.7-4.0G |
205W 205W |
$10009 $3950 |
| Cooling | Asetek 690LX-PN (500W) | ||||
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Dominus Extreme (0601) | ||||
| DRAM | SKHynix 6 x 32 GB DDR4-2933 | ||||
| SSD | Crucial MX500 1TB | ||||
| PSU | EVGA 1600T2 | ||||
| GPU | Sapphire RX460 | ||||
| Chassis | Anidees Crystal XL | ||||
Both processors were tested on 192 GB of SK-Hynix DDR4-2933 RDIMMs, and a sufficient 500W liquid cooling configuration.
For non-performance benchmark related data, we saw both CPUs score the same average core-to-core latency (8280 was 45.8 ns, 6258R was 45.6 ns), both CPUs get to turbo from idle to max in 35-38 milliseconds, and power consumption was almost identical.
There is a slight variation here, though this could just be down to the specific voltage characteristics of the chips I have. The 6258R hits nearer the 205 W TDP that both chips have.
For the performance benchmarks, don’t get too excited all at once. We’ll mark any performance difference as significant where a >4% change is observed.
| Intel Xeon Scalable 2nd Gen Shootout | |||
| AnandTech | Platinum 8280 |
Gold 6258R |
Performance 6258R vs 8280 |
| Office | |||
| Agisoft 1.3 | 1867 sec | 1797 sec | 103.8% |
| AppTimer GIMP | 54.1 sec | 55.0 sec | 98.4% |
| Science | |||
| 3DPMavx | 54280 pts | 56177 pts | 103.5% |
| yCruncher 2.5b | 47.00 sec | 46.20 sec | 101.7% |
| NAMD ApoA1 | 4.42 ns/day | 4.56 ns/day | 103.2% |
| AIBench 0.1.2 | 523 pts | 521 pts | 99.6% |
| Simulation | |||
| DigiCortex 1.35 | 2.47x | 2.48x | 100.4% |
| DwarfFortress S | 124 sec | 124 sec | = |
| Dolphin 5.0 | 329 sec | 329 sec | = |
| Rendering | |||
| Blender 2.83 | 224 sec | 224 sec | = |
| Corona 1.3 | 13.30 Mray/sec | 13.64 Mray/sec | 102.6% |
| POV-Ray 3.7.1 | 10370 pts | 10461 pts | 100.8% |
| V-Ray | 36899 Kray/sec | 38366 Kray/sec | 103.98% |
| CB R20 ST | 391 pts | 393 pts | 100.5% |
| CB R20 MT | 11539 pts | 11851 pts | 102.7% |
| Encoding | |||
| Handbrake 1.3.2 4K | 74 fps | 74 fps | = |
| 7zip Combined | 183k MIPS | 189k MIPS | 103.2% |
| AES Encode | 15.9 GB/s | 16.4 GB/s | 103.1% |
| WinRAR 5.90 | 30.52 sec | 30.17 sec | 101.2% |
| Legacy / Web | |||
| CB10 ST | 8183 pts | 8185 pts | 100.02% |
| CB10 MT | 66851 pts | 66198 pts | 99.0% |
| Kraken | 929 ms | 929 ms | = |
| Speedometer | 90 rpm | 90 rpm | = |
| Synthetic | |||
| GB4 ST Overall | 4739 pts | 4737 pts | 99.95% |
| GB4 MT Overall | 65039 pts | 66274 pts | 101.9% |
| DRAM Read | 124 GB/s | 126 GB/s | 101.6% |
| DRAM Write | 102 GB/s | 102 GB/s | = |
| DRAM Copy | 115 GB/s | 116 GB/s | 100.9% |
| sha256 8k ST | 486 MB/s | 487 MB/s | 100.2% |
| sha256 8k MT | 12452 MB/s | 12833 MB/s | 103.1% |
| LinX 0.9.5 | 1484 GFLOPs | 1528 GFLOPs | 103.0% |
| SPEC (Geomean of tests, Estimated)* | |||
| SPEC2006 ST | 45.8 | 45.8 | = |
| SPEC2017 ST | 6.0 | 6.0 | = |
| SPEC2017 MT | 109.4 | 111.1 | 101.6% |
| *SPEC results not submitted to SPEC.org have to be labelled as 'Estimated' as per SPEC press licensing rules. | |||
Well, that was a whole lotta nothing.
If we retain that a 4% difference might be more than just statistical noise, then none of these benchmarks come close. A slightly blurry eye with these results might concede that the 6258R actually has the upper hand, which might go in line with the slight variation in power consumption we saw in the power test. But by and large, these chips are essentially identical in performance.
Breakdowns of most of the benchmarks and sub-tests can be found by looking at our benchmark comparison database, Bench. To get the best experience when comparing products on Bench. I find it best to increase the browser zoom and reduce the browser window width, so it looks like this:
Click on the image to go to the section in Bench that compares these two CPUs.
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Mitch89 - Saturday, August 8, 2020 - link
You’d also think people would read the whole article before making such remarks. From the article:“
If you’re wondering where the 6258R stacks up against AMD, we’re in the process of re-testing the parts we have on hand as we go through our regression testing. The EPYC 7542 is probably the best comparison point (32C, 2.9-3.4 GHz, 225W, $3400), however we’ll have to look into getting one of those.”
defaultluser - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
This isn't new from Intel: in the past, they've always charged double for the largest officially-supported socket-count bump.But since they started offering more than 4 sockets, the jump between the two has gotten ludicrous. But yes, always a good idea to check your required socket count before you jump in.
Oxford Guy - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
And the fact that there is that other company now offering competitive products. Hmm... what was it called again? I looked at the second page of the article for benchmarks but didn’t find any.Tomatotech - Saturday, August 8, 2020 - link
Now I see your issue. There’s three pages, not two. The answer you seek is on the third page.Holliday75 - Tuesday, August 11, 2020 - link
Oxford might want to file an injunction against his name. If successful he will just be known as, Guy.realbabilu - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
Raise a new question: single server with 8 socketed 8280 vs 4 server clustered 2 socketed 6258R.Performance / price wise total cost and performance/wattage consumption.
Joe Braga - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
Why Don't migrate to AMD Epyc Platform that has Octa channel in the full stack of products from 8core Cpu to 64Core cpuToadster - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
I think you're missing that the 6258R is 2UPI vs 3UPI on the Platinum SKU https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compar...Billy Tallis - Monday, August 10, 2020 - link
How many 2S motherboards actually wire up all three UPI links between two sockets? I've seen at least one Intel slide indicating it's a supported configuration, but most diagrams seem to show just two UPI links in use for 2S boards.rpg1966 - Friday, August 7, 2020 - link
"were designed to *bolder up* Intel’s server offerings"Did you mean "bolster"?