The Intel Xeon E-2456 is a server/workstation processor with 6 cores, launched in December 2023, at an MSRP of $375. It is part of the Xeon E lineup, using the Raptor Lake architecture with Socket 1700. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 12 threads. Xeon E-2456 has 18 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.3 GHz by default, but can boost up to 5.1 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Xeon E-2456 on a 10 nm production node, the transistor count is unknown. The multiplier is locked on Xeon E-2456, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 80 W, the Xeon E-2456 consumes a good deal of power, so decent cooling is needed. Intel’s processor supports DDR5 memory with a dual-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 4800 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. ECC memory is supported, too, which is an important capability for mission-critical systems, to avoid data corruption. For communication with other components in the computer, Xeon E-2456 uses a PCI-Express Gen 5 connection. This processor lacks integrated graphics, you might need a graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Xeon E-2456, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel is including the newer AVX2 standard, too, but not AVX-512.