Best EK-Pro liquid cooling for the Intel® Xeon® W-3300 processors

An important piece of the puzzle in any workstation is efficient liquid cooling to maximize the CPU clock frequency and performance. The EK-Pro CPU WB 4189 water block has proven to be more than a match for the top-tier, 38-core Intel® Xeon® W-3375. In conjunction with the EK-Pro QDC Kit P360 LGA 4189, it managed to tame the 270W TDP and maintain crisp sub-60°C operating temperatures when an intensive all-core workload was applied.

Intel’s® latest Xeon® W-3300 processors for workstations feature improved, and much anticipated, Ice Lake 10nm architecture that provides greater benefits than the previous 14nm offerings. However, all that would be in vain without a solid foundation. GIGABYTE’s latest LGA 4189 server-grade motherboards intend to address this with 3 new models, of which the MU72-SU0 stands out with a good balance of features, performance, and cost.

Intel Xeon W-3300 Processors

These Xeon W-3300 processors are built for next-gen professional applications with heavily threaded and I/O intensive workloads. Considerable gains in performance and efficiency have been observed in artificial intelligence (AI), architecture, media and entertainment (M&E), construction (AEC), and engineering workloads. To achieve this, the processors architecture has been upgraded with an 8-channel memory controller, an increased core count and cache size, and improved boost algorithms that enable it to reach up to 4.0GHz if the core temperatures are low enough. All of this was managed within the allotted 250-270W TDP.

GIGABYTE

GIGABYTE™ followed up the Intel® launch of the 10nm Ice Lake ® processors with a whole host of C621A chipset motherboards. One of their representatives in the ATX format, the MU72-SU0, possess all of the needed connectivity and PCIe slots to fully leverage all of the 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes that the new processors have, along with enough DDR4 RAM slots to saturate the 8-channel memory controller. It also fully supports the improved CPU Performance Boost for the latest Intel® Xeon® 38-core Ice Lake CPUs and Enhanced AI acceleration. In addition, it assists with AI inference and training by leveraging the DL Boost Technology for greater insights in business, operations, and security. Applications include Media & Graphics, HPC, and AI.

EK-Pro Cooling Solutions

Capable cooling is required to tame the 270W of heat generated by the top-tier 38-core Xeon® W-3375. EK has stepped up to the challenge with their latest EK-Pro CPU WB 4189 water block. It is a dedicated enterprise-grade water block that was specifically developed for LGA 4189 Intel® processors. The core of the new CPU water block was refined to manage the growing heat dissipation of new processors and to further upgrade connectivity options for workstation requirements. This enterprise cooling solution is built for performance, reliability, serviceability, and was made with no compromises in mind

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Internal testing

As we have mentioned in our previous blogs “Why liquid cooling”, the importance of efficient cooling cannot be understated. That sentiment has never rung truer than with these enterprise-grade processors. You are completely reliant on the internal boost algorithms, cooling of the processor, and the capabilities of the motherboard to extract as much performance as possible. And their ever-increasing power draws, which deliver improved performance, are pushing liquid cooling into the limelight.

We have rigorously tested the water blocks’ capabilities by pairing it with the Intel® Xeon® W-3375 38-core processor and GIGABYTE MU72-SU0 motherboard and putting the processor under a continuous full synthetic load. The EK-Pro CPU WB 4189 was installed as part of the EK-Pro QDC Kit P360 LGA 4189, which already included all the necessary components to furnish a full liquid cooling loop.

During our testing, the processor registered a maximum operating temperature of 57°C (134.6°F) while having 21 cores operate at 3.6GHz. When all of the 38 cores were fully loaded, a maximum of 3.3GHz per core was achieved at a much cooler 48°C (118.4°F) due to the all-core 275W power limit being reached.

This test verified that the EK-Pro 4189 CPU water block is capable of handling the task of workloads which have a high-power density and low core count. These workloads are pushing the full 270W of power through a very small area at the maximum operating frequencies allowed by the algorithms. And the extended high-intensity workloads that use all of the 38 cores remain at a still impressive 3.3GHz frequency.

Conclusion

EK-Pro water blocks ensure safe and sustainable operating temperatures for even the highest core count processors, no matter the workload. This dream team allows you to unleash the full capabilities and performance of the latest generation of Intel Xeon processors.