An assistant to help you compare server CPUs and develop a more informed future state environment using industry standard benchmarks.
News Feb 5 2024: Silver and 5000 Series Gold Sapphire Rapids CPU's added.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is SPECint_rate2006 and/or CPU2017 Integer Rates?
SPECint_rate2006 and CPU2017 Integer Rate are a standard benchmark to allow for the comparison of different CPUs and their performance levels with minimal reliance on RAM, storage and other hardware components.
"SPEC" is the non-profit Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation group that has been around since the 1980's.
"Int" means it is integer based math, which is typically representative of most datacenter and user workloads outside of 3D modeling, science or resarch groups.
"Rate" is for the test suite that gets results based on the total performance of the entire system with heavy reliance on CPU and little reliance on RAM, storage, etc.
"2006" or "2017" is the suite version of the tool. Both 2006 and 2017 are shown if the data is available. Please note the 2006 and 2017 versions are not comparable or relatable as they are totally different metrics.
What do all these numbers mean?
See first question for a brief on SPECint_rate. When you compare CPUs, the bigger the SPECint_rate the more work the processor or system can do in the same amount of time. This tool provides SPECint_rate2006 and CPU2017 Integer Rates in several different ways:
- Per System - Actual numbers reported reported from SPEC. This means if the server is a 2 socket box, both CPUs are in the test results, hence per system.
- Per Core - Estimated so you can compare what the SPECint_rate per core is to calculate single threaded results, or to better compare performance metrics.
- Per Environment - Estimated for you if provided total sockets for your environment. The tool will tell you your total theoretical environment SPECint_rate so you can compare solutions.
- Associated cost - Estimated as it may also provide the $Dollar per single SPECint_rate. ie one CPU may cost $3.27 per 1 SPECint_rate, while another may be $2.44 per 1 SPECint_rate. This could be useful in your design if cost is of concern.
Why should I care?
Just because your brand new CPU runs at 3GHz or 22 cores does not mean it is the best one for the job. There are older CPUs that can have higher rates than newer ones. For example, the Intel Skylake Xeon Gold 6136 3.0GHz (SPECint_rate2006 of 1506) and the Intel Broadwell Xeon E5-2698 v4 2.2GHz (SPECint_rate2006 of 1595) which is about 5% better on a dual socket system. It can do that because it has 8 more cores. Though if you look at the SPECint_rate2006 per core it is roughly 36% worse than the Skylake, so depending on your application the Skylake may be better. Or the Broadwell could be better if your application is highly threaded and written correctly. Financial engineering may also impact your design, which is why the tool allows you to compare $Dollar per SPECint_rate. Use this tool to compare processors to assist in your design process.
Why should I trust your tool?
You don't have to. Please go to https://www.spec.org/ and do all this manually yourself. I receive zero compensation, zero ad revenue, zero donations and will not request any (except for Skittles). I do receive a bill at the end of the month for bandwidth and hosting, so it costs me money to help you, which I will gladly do if it helps you and your customers get a better solution and help fight uninformed or just plain bad (lazy) engineers and architects.
I can't find my CPU!?
CPUs are listed with Intel first then AMD. They are then sorted by generation, with oldest first. Then alphabetically, with A first. If you can't find it I may not have added it, so shoot me a note and I can add it to the list no problemo.
Ok really, why?
Fight the FUD and fight ignorance. Knowledge is power and it is your choice to pick up the sword and shield. If you don't, hopefully someone else will.
How can I help?
Use the tool, spread the word, email me any feedback (except about spellcheck), eric@ewams.net. Please also feel free to check out my main website at ewams.net.
Extra info:
- All information sourced from https://www.spec.org/cgi-bin/osgresults
- Only server class CPUs are listed. Everyone has a jump box so why worry about desktops? :-p
- Unless otherwise noted, CPUs are for dual socket systems.
- The results shown here for the specrate are averaged together from multiple results, if available, from SPEC. Which means the true specrate may be higher or lower since this is an AVERAGE. But the numbers are close.
- Specint_rate2006 is not everything but should be taken into account when sizing. You must also look at frequency, vCPU:pCPU ratios, overcommit, wait and ready times, expected workload, budget, politics, and trust your gut
- No single socket results are provided. For CPUs that are listed below as "all CPUs added" and there is still a processor missing then it is either because SPEC has no result, there is only single socket results, or it was not listed on Intel Ark.
- Other good info on specint_rate: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/solutions/collateral/data-center-virtualization/unified-computing/SPECCPU2006_overview.pdf
- The terms 'host', 'node', 'system', and 'server' all mean the same thing in this tool - the physical server with a motherboard running the CPUs you selected
- The Intel MSRP numbers are in USD and come from Intel Ark spec sheets linked below
- The AMD price numbers come from wikipedia, so not sure on acuracy or comparing grapes to donuts
- If the CPU is listed but specific data is missing that means the data was not available on Intel Ark or Wiki
Spec Sheets and Important Links:
If you have any comments, feedback, or bug reports, please email eric@ewams.net
My original blog post about this tool (and already useless): http://ewams.net/?date=2018/08/04&view=How_to_Size_the_CPUs_of_New_Systems_Using_my_Specint_Rated_Tool
Video on how to leverage the tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzqUUr9SMyw.
TODO:
Allow sizing based on AMD - AMD is bad about working with vendors to provide results so not worth it- Add ability to size based on GHz and core count
- Ability to share link of results
- Add msrp for older procs
- Spellchek
- Add all
Clovertown, Nehalem, Westmere, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell, Broadwell CPUs
Add Skylake 2017rate results- Add custom comparison table
- In recomendation, select generation (skylake, cascade lake, etc)
- Make it pretty? Ah, who am I joking shes a bute
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Last update: Feb 5, 2024
Terms of Use:
The accuracy, reliability, and usefulness of this page is yet to be found. No warranty expressed or implied. Use at your own risk. Do your own math. No relation to SPEC, Intel, AMD, or any other entity mentioned. You should not use this product.
No user submitted data is stored. Typical apache access logs are, which includes IP address and client agent. If you have a problem with this then do not access this page and stop using the Internet because this is how it works. If you use this as a selling tool you agree to send me Skittles.