Intel Xeon E5-2685 v3 socket: LGA 2011-v3

What the Xeon E5-2685 v3 is

The Xeon E5-2685 v3 is an OEM Haswell-EP twelve core without Hyper-Threading for vendor systems on LGA 2011-v3. Intel set twelve cores and twelve threads at 2.6 GHz base with turbo to 3.3 GHz. Thirty megabytes of Smart Cache serve parallel services. Power is 120 W on 22 nm from September 2014. Disabled Hyper-Threading keeps per core behavior fixed for licensed vendor workloads that count threads.

Twelve fast threads suit services that scale by cores with fixed threading. Base clocks hold all core throughput while turbo covers bursts. Large cache trims memory trips. ECC DDR4 guards data. No integrated graphics exist. OEM firmware gates stepping to vendor platforms, so generic boards may reject it. Used buyers meet it in system pulls.

DDR4 ECC over four channels feeds each socket with two QPI links between dual nodes. The mix is a server socket for vendor deployments where per core licensing or deterministic behavior outweighs thread doubling.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The E5-2685 v3 fits LGA 2011-v3 on vendor C612 Grantley systems. OEM validation ties it to the vendor matrix, so cross vendor use may fail. Confirm support before sourcing used parts. Desktop X99 never accepts this OEM server chip.

Memory is ECC RDIMMs over four channels. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide is desktop focused, so follow vendor manuals. Cooling follows vendor 120 W heatsinks with rack airflow.

Retail twelve core E5 v3 with Hyper-Threading suit broader boards where vendor locks bind. Check microcode before any swap.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

DDR4 ECC quad channel per socket suits licensed services. Even populations protect NUMA fairness. Large RDIMMs reach high counts. Speed follows DIMM count per manual.

Forty PCIe lanes per socket feed fabric and storage for scale out nodes. NUMA aware placement across QPI links matters at twelve cores. Vendor slot maps guide HBA choices.

Vendor 120 W cooling handles sustained loads with cool inlets. No retail cooler exists. Turbo to 3.3 GHz tracks per core states.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket the Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3 with twelve cores and 24 threads offers retail availability with Hyper-Threading for broader boards. The Intel Xeon E5-2650L v3 with twelve cores at 65 W is a lower power sibling where watts matter. Both need platform checks.

Newer sockets replace Grantley. The E5-2685 v3 covers OEM systems where twelve threads without Hyper-Threading are specified.