Home / CPU Comparison / Intel Xeon 6990E+ or Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: What's better?

Intel Xeon 6990E+

vs

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Intel Xeon 6990E+ and Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Intel Xeon 6990E+

More Total Cores: 288 (288 vs 24)
Newer Launch Date: April 2026 (April 2026 vs December 2024)

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K

Higher Technology: 3 nm (Intel 18A vs 3 nm)

Basic

Intel

Label Name

Intel

April 2026

Launch Date

December 2024

Server

Platform

Desktop

6990E+

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

Core Ultra 9 285K

Products formerly Clearwater Forest

Code Name

Arrow Lake

Foundry

Intel

Generation

Ultra 9 (Arrow Lake)

CPU Specifications

288

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

288

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Performance-cores

288

Efficient-cores

2.2 GHz

Basic Frequency

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.

3.2 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.

Performance-core Base Frequency

3.7 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

3.2 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

4.6 GHz

Intel® AVX2

Instruction Set Extensions

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

5.7 GHz

L2 Cache

40 MB

L3 Cache

36 MB shared

Bus Frequency

100 MHz

576 MB

Cache

CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.

FCLGA7529

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

Intel Socket 1851

Multiplier

Unlocked Multiplier

Yes

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.

Intel 18A

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

3 nm

450 W

TDP

125 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

105 °C

Gen5

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

PCIe Version

PCI Express is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard used for connecting high-speed components, replacing older standards such as AGP, PCI, and PCI-X. It has gone through multiple revisions and improvements since its initial release. PCIe 1.0 was first introduced in 2002, and in order to meet the growing demand for higher bandwidth, subsequent versions have been released over time.

Max Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Yes

Intel 64

Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.

Memory Specifications

DDR5-RDIMM-8000MT/s-1DPC

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR5-6400

1.5 TB

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

256 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

102.4 GB/s

8000 MHz

Maximum Memory Speed

ECC Memory Support

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

Yes

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® Graphics

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

2000 MHz

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

300 MHz

Execution Units

The Execution Unit is the foundational building block of Intel’s graphics architecture. Execution Units are compute processors optimized for simultaneous Multi-Threading for high throughput compute power.

Graphics Performance

1.79 TFLOPS

AI Specifications

Yes

Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) on CPU

A new set of embedded processor technologies designed to accelerate AI deep learning use cases. It extends Intel AVX-512 with a new Vector Neural Network Instruction (VNNI) that significantly increases deep learning inference performance over previous generations.

Miscellaneous

Intel Xeon 6990E+

Official Website

Yes

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel QuickAssist Software Acceleration

Yes

Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology

CET - Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET) helps protect against the misuse of legitimate code snippets through return-oriented programming (ROP) control-flow hijacking attacks.

Yes

Intel OS Guard