The Intel Xeon 6746E, a member of the Sierra Forest-SP family, represents a paradigm shift in core density, leveraging an efficient cores (E-cores) only architecture with 112 cores and 112 threads. This configuration, built on an advanced 5-nanometer process, is engineered explicitly for massively parallel, scale-out workloads where raw thread count supersedes single-threaded performance. The core and thread setup of this Xeon processor is its primary asset, enabling it to handle an immense number of concurrent tasks without the complexity of simultaneous multithreading. By dedicating one thread per core, the 6746E ensures predictable performance and reduces potential contention, which is critical in dense virtualized and containerized environments. This design philosophy makes the chip a powerhouse for cloud-native applications and hyperscale data centers seeking to maximize throughput per socket. Its sheer core count allows it to replace multiple older-generation servers, consolidating workloads and improving overall data center efficiency.
Clock speeds for the Xeon 6 6746E are defined by a modest 2.0 GHz base frequency and a 2.7 GHz turbo boost, figures that underscore its focus on throughput-per-watt rather than peak single-core speed. These frequencies, while lower than performance-core (P-core) variants, are optimized for the E-core's simpler microarchitecture, allowing the chip to maintain its 250W TDP envelope while operating 112 cores. The boost algorithm is designed to opportunistically increase frequency on active cores, providing headroom for lightly threaded tasks within a predominantly parallel workload. This balancing act between frequency, power, and core count is the key to the processor's energy efficiency profile. When assessed against its predecessor generations, the Sierra Forest chip delivers substantially higher computational density at a similar power draw. This efficiency is paramount for operators where operational expenses, dominated by power and cooling, are a primary concern.
The cache hierarchy of the Intel 6746E is tailored to feed its army of cores, featuring a substantial 96 MB of shared L3 cache. This large, last-level cache acts as a critical data reservoir, reducing the frequency of slower accesses to main memory and mitigating potential bottlenecks that could starve 112 cores. The shared design allows dynamic allocation of cache resources between cores based on workload demands, improving overall utilization and efficiency. While detailed specifications for private L1 and L2 caches per core are not provided here, they are typically optimized for the lean E-core design, prioritizing area and power efficiency. The combined cache subsystem works in concert to keep data close to the execution units, maximizing the throughput potential of the core complex. This memory subsystem design is a cornerstone in enabling the consistent performance expected from a data center processor of this caliber.
Ideal workloads for the 6746E are characterized by high parallelism and scalability, making it a specialized tool for specific data center tasks. Its architecture excels in the following scenarios:
- High-density cloud-native microservices and container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, where numerous isolated instances run concurrently.
- Web and application servers handling vast numbers of simultaneous, lightweight requests typical of large-scale internet services.
- Data analytics and batch processing jobs that can be cleanly partitioned across hundreds of threads.
- Network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined infrastructure, running many parallel network processing tasks.
- Scale-out databases and in-memory caches that benefit from massive thread counts for concurrent queries and transactions.
- Content delivery network (CDN) nodes and media transcoding workloads, where parallel encoding jobs can be distributed across the core array.