Test 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.

Platinum 8280 vs Gold 6258R Does the 6258R make sense for Intel?
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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 cpu
  • Toadster - 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"?

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