When we first heard about the Intel Xeon W-2295 it sounded like an exciting part. For $1,333 this is a high-frequency 18-core part that would fall between the Intel Xeon E-2288G and Intel Xeon W-3275 for Xeon Workstations. These Xeon W parts also make for interesting options in the single-socket server market, and the Xeon W-2295 is no exception. With Intel and Puget Systems letting us borrow a solution to test the LGA2066 Xeon, we jumped at the opportunity.

Key stats for the Intel Xeon W-2295: 18 cores / 36 threads with a 3.0GHz base clock and 4.6GHz turbo boost. There is 24.75MB of onboard cache. The CPU features a 165W TDP. These are $1333 list price parts. Here is an Intel Ark link for your reference.

Here is what the lscpu output looks like for an Intel Xeon W-2295:

The chip itself is a LGA2066 package which means uses a similar packaging size and socket size to the LGA2011 socket that was used from the Xeon E5-2600 V1-V4 generations. As such we get features such as quad-channel memory support. An update with the newer chips is that we also get support for up to 48 PCIe 3.0 lanes with the platform.

Based on the Intel 14nm process, this is a monolithic die design. That means we have a single NUMA node where all memory and PCIe devices are attached.

In our benchmarks and review piece, we are going to take a look at a few new items. Namely, we are going to see where the Intel Xeon W-2295 falls in a competitive landscape that includes both Intel and AMD solutions.

Intel Xeon W-2295 Test Configuration

For our Intel Xeon W-2295 review, we are using the following configuration:

CPU : Intel Xeon W-2295

: Intel Xeon W-2295 Motherboard : Asus WS C422 SAGE/10G

: Asus WS C422 SAGE/10G Ram : Crucial 128GB DDR4-2666 REG ECC (4x32GB)

: Crucial 128GB DDR4-2666 REG ECC (4x32GB) Video Card : PNY GeForce RTX 2080 TI 11GB Blower Fan

: PNY GeForce RTX 2080 TI 11GB Blower Fan Chassis : Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Black

: Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Black Power Supply : EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W P2 Power Supply

: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000W P2 Power Supply CPU Cooling : Corsair Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler (Rev. 3)

: Corsair Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler (Rev. 3) Primary Storage: Intel Optane 905 1TB NVMe AIC SSD

The system itself is well designed and remarkably quiet given the fact it has an 18-core Xeon CPU that can hit 5.0GHz underneath. One change we would likely make from this configuration is to use a different data drive. While STH loves Intel Optane, it is likely overkill to have a 960GB SSD here as a boot and application device.

We had the opportunity to see this custom system be built around the Xeon W-2295 and that included some of the fun bespoke features such as thermal imaging the system at idle and load during its stress testing.

The overall build quality of the Puget Systems workstation was excellent and we will have more on that on STH.

Next, let us look at our performance benchmarks before getting to market positioning and our final words.