Intel Xeon Bronze 3106 socket: LGA 3647

What the Xeon Bronze 3106 is

The Xeon Bronze 3106 is an eight core, eight thread server processor from Skylake-SP. It launched in July 2017 with a fixed 1.7 GHz at 85 W. Eight cores without Hyper-Threading cover entry dual socket racks where core count and memory channels matter more than clocks.

Eleven megabytes of L3 cache feed eight cores. The fixed 1.7 GHz keeps power low for dense racks, with no Turbo table to learn. Eighty five watts suit 1U nodes with moderate airflow.

There is no integrated graphics. Six channel DDR4-2133 ECC up to 768 GB per socket suits entry virtual hosts. Forty eight PCIe lanes allow NICs and NVMe storage.

Intel listed the 3106 at $306 at launch as the entry Xeon Scalable. Clouds chose it for scale out nodes where many sockets beat fast sockets. The multiplier is locked. Note that the master list in this repo once carried 2.1 to 3.0 GHz for this SKU, which matches Silver parts, while Intel ARK and the Advantech datasheet both give a fixed 1.7 GHz, which this page follows.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 3106 fits LGA 3647 on C620 series Purley server boards. Boards need a BIOS with Skylake-SP support and the exact SKU on the vendor list. It runs in single or dual socket designs with 2S scalability.

Server boards carry six DDR4 channels and 48 PCIe lanes per CPU even on Bronze SKUs. Rack chassis need front to back airflow with vendor heatsinks for 85 W. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide explains server matching.

The Xeon Silver 4116 on the same socket adds Hyper-Threading and more cores. The Bronze 3104 is the 6 core entry below it.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

DDR4-2133 ECC in six channels up to 768 GB per socket is the memory design. Two DIMMs per channel is the density path. ECC stays enabled for uptime.

PCIe 3.0 with 48 lanes per CPU handles networking and NVMe. Entry nodes split lanes between NICs and boot SSDs. UPI links (2x) connect dual sockets.

Cooling uses narrow or square ILM heatsinks per board vendor lists for 85 W. Inlet temperature decides sustained pace more than board brand.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket the step is Silver 4116 for threads or Gold 6154 for cores and clocks, keeping board and DDR4. Many Purley boards accept Cascade Lake-SP with a BIOS update, which extends life.

Past LGA 3647 the move is newer Xeon Scalable with DDR4-2933 or DDR5. Most owners add memory or NICs before CPU swaps.