Intel Xeon W-2245 8-core LGA2066

The Intel Xeon W-2245 is an 8-core, 16-thread workstation chip with ECC support and an unlocked multiplier, hitting 19,392 in PassMark multi-thread. It's a solid performer for productivity and server tasks, but the 155W TDP makes it inefficient by modern standards. Prices range from $240 to $930, so it's only worth buying at the low end. If you need ECC on a budget, this is a good deal, otherwise look at modern consumer chips.

Let's talk numbers. The W-2245 puts up a PassMark multi-thread score of 19,392, which lands it in the 74th percentile for CPUs in our database. That's solid, middle-of-the-pack territory for modern chips, but remember this thing launched years ago. For an 8-core part on a 14nm process, it still holds its own in heavily threaded workloads. The single-thread score of 2,726 is actually a bit more impressive, sitting at the 77th percentile. That 4.5GHz boost clock does real work when you're in lightly threaded applications.

The 155W TDP is where things get interesting. That's a lot of power draw for 8 cores by today's standards, and it shows in the efficiency score. We've got this chip at 34.6 out of 100 for efficiency, which puts it in the bottom third of our database. You'll need a decent cooler and a power supply that can handle the draw, especially if you start pushing the unlocked multiplier. The 16.5MB of L3 cache is fine for the core count, but it's not going to blow anyone away. In practice, this chip feels snappy in single-threaded tasks and competent in multi-threaded ones, but it's not going to win any efficiency awards.

The competitive landscape for the W-2245 is a bit odd because it sits between worlds. On one side you have modern consumer chips like the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which absolutely demolishes this Xeon in gaming and most productivity tasks while sipping power. The 9800X3D is on a current platform with a real upgrade path, and its 3D V-Cache makes it a monster in cache-sensitive workloads. If you don't need ECC, there's no contest, the Ryzen wins.

On the other side, you have other workstation and server parts that compete more directly. The be quiet! Ryzen 3 Dark Rock Pro 5 is actually a cooler, not a CPU, so that's a weird listing in our database, but it highlights the fact that this Xeon often gets bundled with workstation builds. The MICRO CENTER 265KFPRO890WIFI bundle and the ADVB3 Phenom II X6 are also in the mix, though the Phenom is ancient by comparison. The real trade-off here is ECC support and platform stability versus modern performance and efficiency. The W-2245 gives you the former, but you're giving up a lot of the latter.

The value story here is complicated, mostly because the price is all over the place. We're seeing listings from $240 to $930 in USD, and that $690 spread means your experience buying this chip depends entirely on where you shop. The best deal we're seeing is on Amazon, where renewed units can dip down to that $240 mark. At that price, you're getting a workstation-class CPU with ECC support for less than a mid-range consumer chip. That's genuinely compelling if you're building a budget server or a used workstation.

But at the higher end of that range, around $930, this thing makes no sense at all. You're paying modern flagship money for a chip that's several generations old, on a dead socket, with mediocre efficiency. The affordability percentile sits at 33rd, which means most CPUs in our database are more affordable than this one on average. The key takeaway is simple: if you can snag one of these for under $300, it's a steal. If you're looking at listings above $500, walk away and buy something newer.

The Intel Xeon W-2245 is one of those chips that makes you do a double take. It's a server and workstation CPU from Intel's 14nm era, but it's unlocked, which is not something you see every day in the Xeon lineup. Eight cores, sixteen threads, a 4.5GHz boost clock, and ECC memory support all packed into an LGA2066 socket. This is a chip aimed squarely at people who need workstation reliability without completely giving up on the idea of tweaking their hardware.

Who's this actually for? If you're running a small render farm, doing heavy CAD work, or building a home server that needs to chew through multi-threaded workloads without falling over, the W-2245 makes a lot of sense. The ECC support is the big differentiator here. Regular consumer chips will happily corrupt your data in a memory error, but ECC catches those before they become a problem. For anyone doing scientific computing, financial modeling, or long-running simulations, that's not a nice-to-have, it's a must-have.

What makes this interesting in 2025 is the price situation. You can find these things anywhere from $240 to $930 depending on the listing, and that spread alone tells you the market for used and renewed Xeon parts is a bit wild. If you're willing to hunt around, you can get a lot of workstation horsepower for not much money. But you're also buying into a platform that's been dead for a while, so there are trade-offs to consider.

If you're building a gaming rig, skip this. The W-2245's single-thread performance is fine, but you're paying for ECC support and workstation features you'll never use, while dealing with a 155W TDP and a dead platform. A Ryzen 7 9800X3D or even a mid-range Core i5 will give you better gaming performance, lower power draw, and an actual upgrade path. The money you save on your power bill alone will add up over a few years.

Also skip this if you're building a new server with high efficiency requirements. The 34.6 out of 100 efficiency score is a real problem for 24/7 operation. At 155W for 8 cores, you're getting roughly 19.4 PassMark points per watt, which is not great. If you're running a server that's always on, look at newer Xeon or EPYC parts with better performance per watt, or even a modern consumer chip with ECC support on certain AMD platforms. The W-2245 makes sense for budget builds where you can find it cheap, not for new deployments where power costs matter.

If you're building a budget workstation or home server and you need ECC memory support, the W-2245 is worth a serious look, but only if you can find it at the low end of that price range. At $240 to $300, this chip delivers workstation reliability and decent multi-threaded performance for less than most modern mid-range CPUs. The unlocked multiplier is a nice bonus if you want to squeeze out a bit more performance, though you'll need to manage the heat from that 155W TDP.

For everyone else, this chip is a harder sell. If you're a gamer or a general productivity user, a modern Ryzen or Core i5 will run circles around it while using less power and giving you an upgrade path. If you're building a serious server with high availability requirements, you might be better off looking at newer Xeon or EPYC parts that offer better efficiency and more cores per dollar. The W-2245 is a niche chip for a niche buyer, and that buyer is someone who needs ECC on a budget and doesn't mind living with a dead platform.