Home / CPU Comparison / AMD EPYC 9996 or Intel Xeon 6990E+: What's better?

AMD EPYC 9996

vs

Intel Xeon 6990E+

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of AMD EPYC 9996 and Intel Xeon 6990E+ processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

AMD EPYC 9996

Higher Max Turbo Frequency: Up to 4.1 GHz (Up to 4.1 GHz vs 3.2 GHz)
Newer PCI Express Version: PCIe® 6.0 x96 (PCIe® 6.0 x96 vs Gen5)

Intel Xeon 6990E+

More Total Cores: 288 (256 vs 288)

Basic

AMD

Label Name

Intel

Launch Date

April 2026

Server

Platform

Server

EPYC 9996

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.

6990E+

Code Name

Products formerly Clearwater Forest

CPU Specifications

256

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

512

Total Threads

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

288

Efficient-cores

288

2.55 GHz

Basic Frequency

2.2 GHz

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.

Yes

Up to 4.1 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.

3.2 GHz

Instruction Set Extensions

Intel® AVX2

1024 MB

L3 Cache

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.

576 MB

CPU Socket

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

FCLGA7529

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.

Yes

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.

Intel 18A

TDP

450 W

PCIe® 6.0 x96

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.

Gen5

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.

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.

Yes

Memory Specifications

DDR5 RDIMM MRDIMM

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-RDIMM-8000MT/s-1DPC

Max Memory Size

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

1.5 TB

Memory Channels

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

8000 MT/s / 12800 MT/s

Bus Speed

Maximum Memory Speed

8000 MHz

AI Specifications

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.

Yes

Miscellaneous

AMD EPYC 9996

Official Website

Intel Xeon 6990E+

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

Yes