Intel Xeon W-2225 4-core LGA 2066

A four-core Xeon in 2025 is like bringing a flip phone to a smartphone fight. ECC support is nice, but not nice enough to justify this.

The single-thread score of 2612 in PassMark is actually the highlight here, landing in the 74th percentile. That's genuinely solid for older software that only uses one or two cores. But the multi-core score of 10376 tells the real story. With just four cores, this thing gets lapped by modern mid-range chips that cost less. The 105W TDP is also a bit cheeky for what you get. It's not inefficient, but it's not exactly sipping power either.

The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is in a completely different universe. It's like comparing a bicycle to a motorcycle. The 9800X3D has eight cores, way more cache, and gaming performance that would make this Xeon cry. The be quiet! Ryzen 3 Dark Rock Pro 5 is a cooler, not a CPU, so that's a weird comparison, but it tells you how thin the competition is in this exact niche. If you need ECC on a budget, an older Ryzen with ECC support on a B550 board is the smarter play. If you need LGA 2066 specifically, you're probably stuck with this or a used W-2235.

At USD 254 in the US, this is a tough sell. The EUR spread is interesting though, ranging from EUR 208 to EUR 239 across four listings. If you're in Europe, the EUR 208 option is the one to grab if you must have this chip. But honestly, even at the low end, you're paying a premium for the Xeon name and ECC support. A used Ryzen 5 or even a newer i5 will smoke this in most tasks for similar or less money.

The Intel Xeon W-2225 is a weird little chip. It's a server CPU wearing workstation clothes, and honestly, it's not fooling anyone. Four cores and eight threads at 4.1GHz base with a 4.6GHz boost sounds fine on paper, but in 2025, that's entry-level territory for a platform that costs real money to build on. The one thing to know? This is a niche buy for people who specifically need ECC memory and LGA 2066 compatibility, not a general-purpose upgrade.

If you're building a gaming PC, skip this immediately. The gaming score of 28.6/100 is embarrassing. Go get a Ryzen 5 7600 or an i5-13400F instead. If you're building a general-purpose workstation, also skip it. A modern six-core or eight-core consumer chip will run circles around this for less money. This is only for people with a specific LGA 2066 board and a need for ECC memory.

Don't buy this unless you have a very specific reason. The Xeon W-2225 is a relic from a time when four cores was enough for workstation tasks. It's not anymore. The only people who should consider this are those with an existing LGA 2066 board who need ECC memory and can find it cheap. Everyone else should look at modern Ryzen or Core i5 options that offer way more performance per dollar.