Intel Xeon D-1548 vs Intel Xeon E-2134 Comparison

The Intel Xeon E-2134 and Intel Xeon D-1548 occupy the same corner of the database, sitting just one percentile point apart in overall rankings, yet they arrive there by very different routes. The E-2134 is a Coffee Lake-S WS workstation part with four cores running at high clocks, while the D-1548 is a Broadwell-DE density play with eight cores clocked conservatively. Benchmark results indicate the E-2134 sweeps every recorded test, winning all six head-to-head comparisons by margins of roughly four percent. The recorded data tells a story of clock speed and newer architecture outweighing core count.

Where Each One Wins

The E-2134 wins every benchmark in the database. That is the headline. It takes Cinebench R15 multi-core with 808 points against 777, a 4 percent lead, and matches that margin in R20 multi-core, 3367 to 3239, and R23 multi-core, 8018 to 7713. The single-core gap is nearly identical: 4.6 percent in R15, 3.9 percent in R20, and 3.9 percent in R23.

What makes this notable is that the D-1548 brings twice the cores and twice the threads to those multi-core tests and still loses. The E-2134's 4.50 GHz boost against the D-1548's 2.60 GHz boost more than compensates for the deficit in parallelism. For lightly threaded workloads, CAD, office productivity, legacy single-threaded applications, and interactive workstation tasks, the data clearly favors the E-2134.

The D-1548's wins live outside the benchmark charts. Its 45 W TDP against the E-2134's 71 W makes it the efficiency choice for dense deployments where thermals and power envelopes matter. Its 24 PCIe 3.0 lanes against 16 on the E-2134 give it the edge in storage and networking expansion, the classic territory for its BGA 1667 soldered packaging. It also remains listed as Active in production status while the E-2134 is End-of-life. For compact servers where the chip is soldered to the board, more lanes and lower TDP count for more than a 4 percent benchmark deficit.

Architecture Differences

Both chips come from Intel fabs on a 14 nm process, but they represent different generations and philosophies. The E-2134 uses the Coffee Lake architecture, codenamed Coffee Lake-S WS, and arrived in mid-2018. The D-1548 uses the older Broadwell architecture from the Broadwell-DE line, released in late 2015.

Core topology is where they diverge most. The E-2134 has 4 cores and 8 threads with a 3.50 GHz base clock and a 4.50 GHz boost. The D-1548 has 8 cores and 16 threads but a 2000 MHz base and a 2.60 GHz boost, so its clocks sit well below the E-2134's across the board.

Cache is configured differently too. The E-2134 carries 8 MB of shared L3, while the D-1548 uses a per-core L3 arrangement of 1.5 MB per core. Both share identical L1 and L2 layouts, 64 KB and 256 KB per core respectively.

Feature sets diverge in several areas. The E-2134 includes UHD Graphics P630 integrated graphics; the D-1548 has none, which is typical for headless server silicon. Both support ECC memory on a dual-channel bus. The D-1548 is more flexible on memory type, supporting both DDR3 and DDR4, while the E-2134 is DDR4 only, though it carries a recorded memory bandwidth figure of 42.7 GB/s. On PCIe, the D-1548 offers 24 Gen 3 lanes versus 16 on the E-2134.

Physical and platform details differ as well. The E-2134 uses Intel Socket 1151, a replaceable package, with a 126 mm² die and a launch MSRP of $256. The D-1548 is soldered via BGA 1667, with a larger 246 mm² die containing 3,200 million transistors and a launch MSRP of $555. The D-1548's larger die and transistor budget reflect the server-oriented integration of the Broadwell-DE design.

FAQ

Q: Which CPU is faster in benchmarks?

A: The Intel Xeon E-2134 wins all six recorded Cinebench tests. Its average benchmark score of 2319 also edges the D-1548's 2231, and it sits at the 48th percentile versus the D-1548's 47th percentile against all CPUs in the database.

Q: Can the extra cores of the Xeon D-1548 overcome the E-2134's clock advantage?

A: The recorded data says no. Despite having 8 cores and 16 threads against 4 cores and 8 threads, the D-1548 loses every multi-core test by about 4 percent, including Cinebench R23 multi-core at 7713 versus 8018.

Q: Which chip is more power efficient?

A: The D-1548 has a 45 W TDP compared to 71 W for the E-2134, a substantially lower thermal envelope that suits dense and embedded deployments.

Q: Do both CPUs support ECC memory?

A: Yes, both support ECC on a dual-channel memory bus. The D-1548 additionally supports DDR3 alongside DDR4.

Q: Are either of these chips still in production?

A: The Xeon D-1548 is listed as Active. The Xeon E-2134 is listed as End-of-life.

Q: How do they compare against their own nearest rivals?

A: The E-2134's closest rivals include the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 at an average score of 2320, just 0.1 percent ahead, and the Intel Xeon E3-1285 v6 at 2348. The D-1548 sits within a fraction of a percent of the Intel Xeon D-1715TER, the Intel Core i7-8559U, and the Intel Core i7-5775C.

Specification Differences

• Cores: 4 (E-2134) vs 8 (D-1548)
• Threads: 8 (E-2134) vs 16 (D-1548)
• Base clock: 3.50 GHz (E-2134) vs 2000 MHz (D-1548)
• Boost clock: 4.50 GHz (E-2134) vs 2.60 GHz (D-1548)
• TDP: 71 W (E-2134) vs 45 W (D-1548)
• Socket: Intel Socket 1151 (E-2134) vs Intel BGA 1667 (D-1548)
• Architecture: Coffee Lake, Coffee Lake-S WS (E-2134) vs Broadwell, Broadwell-DE (D-1548)
• Die size: 126 mm² (E-2134) vs 246 mm² (D-1548)
• Transistors: not recorded for the E-2134 vs 3,200 million for the D-1548
• L3 cache: 8 MB shared (E-2134) vs 1.5 MB per core (D-1548)
• Memory support: DDR4 (E-2134) vs DDR3 and DDR4 (D-1548)
• PCIe: Gen 3, 16 lanes (E-2134) vs Gen 3, 24 lanes (D-1548)
• Integrated graphics: UHD Graphics P630 (E-2134) vs none (D-1548)
• Release date: 2018 (E-2134) vs 2015 (D-1548)
• Launch MSRP: $256 (E-2134) vs $555 (D-1548)
• Production status: End-of-life (E-2134) vs Active (D-1548)

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Every recorded test favors the E-2134, and the margins are strikingly consistent.

In Cinebench R15, the E-2134 posts 808 multi-core points to the D-1548's 777, a 4 percent win, and 114 single-core points to 109, a 4.6 percent win. Cinebench R20 follows the same pattern: 3367 versus 3239 in multi-core, 4 percent, and 475 versus 457 in single-core, 3.9 percent.

Cinebench R23, the most demanding test in the set, confirms the trend. The E-2134 records 8018 multi-core points against 7713, again 4 percent, and 1132 single-core points against 1089, 3.9 percent.

The single-core results are predictable given the clock gap between a 4.50 GHz boost and a 2.60 GHz boost, both on 14 nm. The multi-core results are the interesting part. The D-1548 doubles the cores and threads, yet finishes consistently behind, which means its per-thread throughput is low enough that sheer parallelism cannot close the gap. Newer Coffee Lake cores at high clocks simply outproduce twice as many older Broadwell cores at conservative clocks.

Context from the wider database reinforces how closely matched these two are overall. The E-2134 averages 2319 across benchmarks and ranks in the 48th percentile, essentially tied with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 at 2320. The D-1548 averages 2231 in the 47th percentile, within 0.3 percent of the Intel Xeon D-1715TER and 0.3 percent of the Intel Core i7-8559U. Two chips separated by a single percentile point, one built for clocks on the desktop, one built for density in the rack, and the data gives the performance verdict to the newer, faster, now end-of-life part.