Let us save you some time with this review: the Intel Xeon E-2146G is the SKU to get in this lineup. We are going through our full review but the Xeon E-2146G is the most versatile Coffee Lake platform that has been launched to date. One can get higher-end SKUs in the CPU stack like the Intel Xeon E-2176G but one only gets a small bit of incremental performance. As we stated in our Intel Xeon E-2136 Benchmarks and Review piece, the Xeon E-2146G adds some incremental performance along with the iGPU making it a more versatile part for a small percentage cost increment on a system basis. In our review, we are going to show you why we are making this recommendation.

Key stats for the Intel Xeon E-2146G: 6 cores / 12 threads and 3.5GHz base clock and 4.5GHz turbo boost with 12MB cache. The CPU features an 80W TDP. This is a $311 list price part which is very reasonable for this level of performance in today’s market. Here is the ARK page with the feature set.

Here is what the lscpu output looks like for the chips:

Test Configuration

Here is our basic configuration for this class of CPU:

Motherboard: Supermicro X11SCA-F

CPU: Intel Xeon E-2146G

RAM: 4x 8GB DDR4-2400 ECC UDIMMs

SSD: Intel DC S3710 400GB

SATADOM: Supermicro 32GB SATADOM

The CPU itself supports up to 64GB of RAM, in a 4x 16GB configuration, today. Intel specs say that as 32GB ECC UDIMM modules become available, the CPUs will support 128GB in 4x32GB configurations. We see these platforms using 32GB or less given cost sensitivities.

There are going to be folks who want to point to AMD alternatives. As of this writing, there are really no alternatives in this space because while AMD may have competitive CPU parts, vendors have a vibrant Intel Xeon E-2100/ Core i3 ecosystem. AMD needs to do some work here to catch up, but it is not a focus market for them. Single socket servers in this segment are a relatively low volume area.

Next, we are going to take a look at our Intel Xeon E-2146G benchmarks, we are then going to focus on power consumption then conclude with our final words on the processors.