Summary
The next-generation of entry level PowerEdge rack and tower servers (T150, T350, R250 & R350) are powered by the Intel® Xeon® E-2300 processor series. These CPUs are unique in that they were primarily designed for small-business customers. By focusing on maintaining a low cost, while simultaneously refining the architecture to include new capabilities and feature sets most relevant to SMB, Intel has developed a high- performing CPU for budget- conscious customers. This DfD was written to educate readers on why the latest Xeon® E-2300 series outperforms its predecessor and how SMB PowerEdge customers will benefit from these offerings in the next- generation of entry-level PowerEdge racks & towers.
IntroductionThe next-generation of entry-level PowerEdge rack and tower servers (T150, T350, R250, R350) are the perfect solution for small business customers that want a high-quality server at an affordable price. This doctrine extends especially to the CPU, or the brains of the server. Historically, Intel® Xeon® E-series CPUs have done an excellent job in finding the ‘price vs. performance’ sweet spot, as seen with previous-generation Xeon® E-2200 series on past PowerEdge products, such as the T140 or T340. Intel’s new Xeon® E-2300 CPU series for next-generation PowerEdge rack and tower servers only continues the advancement of this affordable processor line – refining the features, performance, and security aspects most essential to small business customers.
So how well do the two Intel processor generations compare? Well, that is your call to make. We hope that the Xeon® E-2300 processor details presented below will excite customers for the new PowerEdge T150, T350, R250 and R350.
New Core Architecture Improves Performance
The Cypress Cove CPU microarchitecture delivers a 19% increase of IPC (instructions per cycle), while also increasing IGP cores, L1/L2 cache speeds, and DMI lanes. These improvements combined are expected to increase the total CPU performance by up to 28% when compared to the previous-generation, and will boost performance for virtually all SMB, Edge and remote office use cases.
Memory speeds have increased by 20%, jumping from 2666MT/s to 3200MT/s. Additionally, the max memory capacity for all Xeon® E- 2300 SKUs is now 128GB – 2x as much as most Xeon® E-2200 SKUs. Having twice as much data stored with faster DIMM speeds will significantly reduce data transfer times for memory-intensive workloads like databases, CRM, ERP, or Exchange.
PCIe support has also vastly improved, with support for 20 lanes of PCIe Gen4. This results in 2x more throughput per lane (16GT/s PCIe Gen4 vs 8GT/s PCIe Gen3) and 25% more lanes (20 lanes vs. 16 lanes) than the previous-generation. Features that support PCIe Gen4, like Dell Technologies HBA355i (Non-RAID) and H755 (RAID) storage controllers, will utilize this support to increase bandwidth.
Added Features to Expand Capability
The latest Xeon® E-2300 series also introduced support for multiple new features that will expand its capabilities:
- Legacy Boot support has been deprecated by Intel and replaced with the superior UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Secure Boot, which has better programmability, greater scalability, and higher security. UEFI Secure Boot also provides faster booting times and support for 9ZBs, while legacy BIOS is limited to 2.2TBs.
- Support for the latest Windows Server 2022 operating system, delivers the essential server performance, expandability and reliability small businesses depend on to support their critical business and customer data needs.
- 1 DDI (DP/HDMI) port of up to 4K/60fps resolution is supported with the intention to drive a display without the need for a discrete graphics card. One concurrent, independent display is also supported with Integrated HDCP 2.3.
Exceptional SGX Security
Customers who purchase the latest Xeon® E-2300 series will also inherit Intel SGX (Software Guard Extensions) baked into their CPUs. SGX security provides maximum protection by encrypting sections of memory to create highly secured environments to store targeted, sensitive data. Sensitive data like key protection, multi-party enterprise blockchain, AI/ML algorithm protection, and always-encrypted databases are protected even when the attacker has full control of the platform! This feature is an instrumental security feature for customers that consistently transfer data between the cloud and the client.
Final Words
The Xeon® E-2300 processor series is the most cost-effective Intel® offering, designed to deliver the performance, reliability, security, and management capabilities needed by small businesses to process and protect their critical business and customer data. When combined with the next- generation of entry-level PowerEdge racks and towers, customers can adequately tackle a broad variety of multi-user applications including email, messaging, print servers, calendar programs, databases, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and other software that facilitates data sharing and collaboration.
