Home / CPU Comparison / Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 or Apple M2: What's better?

Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4

vs

Apple M2

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 and Apple M2 processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4

More Total Cores: 14 (14 vs 8)

Apple M2

Higher Technology: 5 nm (14 nm vs 5 nm)
Higher Memory Type: Unified LPDDR5-6400 (DDR4 1600/1866/2133/2400 vs Unified LPDDR5-6400)
Newer Launch Date: June 2022 (January 2016 vs June 2022)

Basic

Intel

Label Name

Apple

January 2016

Launch Date

June 2022

Server

Platform

Laptop

CPU Architecture

Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard

CPU Name

Apple M2

E5-2680V4

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.

Apple M2

Broadwell

Code Name

Foundry

TSMC

Generation

Apple M2 series

CPU Specifications

Performance Cores

Total Cores

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

Total Threads

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

Efficient-cores

2.40 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.

3.30 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.

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

2.42 GHz

Instruction Set Extensions

NEON

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

3.48 GHz

Yes

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.

Extended Instruction Set

ARMv8.6-A, NEON

Yes

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.

2.0

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.

3.30 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency

L1 Cache

P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core

L2 Cache

P-core cluster: 16 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

L3 Cache

8 MB system level cache

35 MB Intel® Smart 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.

FCLGA2011

CPU Socket

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

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.

14 nm

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.

5 nm

120 W

TDP

3.0

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.

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.

64-bit

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

ARMv8.6-A

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.

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

x4 | x8 | x16

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Transistor Count

20 billion

Memory Specifications

Memory Bus Width

128-bit

DDR4 1600/1866/2133/2400

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.

Unified LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

LPDDR5-6400

1.5 TB

Max Memory Size

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

24 GB

Memory Channels

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

9.6 GT/s

Bus Speed

76.8 GB/s

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).

100 GB/s

Maximum Memory Speed

6400 MT/s

Yes

ECC Memory Supported

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.

Intel Flex Memory Access

GPU Specifications

External Display Standard

Thunderbolt 3 / USB4 with DisplayPort

GPU Name

Apple M2 GPU

Max External Display Resolution

Up to 6K 60Hz external display

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; up to 8K H.264 and HEVC decode; multiple 4K and 8K ProRes streams

Video Encode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; up to 8K H.264 and HEVC decode

Video Processing Unit

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

1398 MHz

Graphics Core Count

Number of Displays Supported

One external display up to 6K 60Hz

GPU APIs

Metal, OpenCL

Graphics Performance

Up to 3.6 TFLOPS FP32

Media Engine

Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.

Yes

AI Specifications

AI Engine

16-core Apple Neural Engine

Neural Engine Core Count

NPU Name

Apple Neural Engine

NPU Performance

15.8 TOPS

Connectivity

Bluetooth Support

Yes

Bluetooth Version

Bluetooth 5.3

Wi-Fi Standard

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt Support

Yes, Thunderbolt 3 up to 40 Gb/s

USB Version

USB4

USB4 Support

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

Miscellaneous

Hardware-Verified Secure Boot

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Image Signal Processor

Apple image signal processor

Runtime Anti-Exploitation

Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

Security Processor

Secure Enclave

Intel® AVX2

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.

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 OS Guard