CPUDesktopReleased Feb 2, 2026

Intel Xeon 656

20C/40T · 4.8 GHz · 210 W

The Xeon 656 is a 20-core, 40-thread processor from Intel's Xeon 600 workstation lineup (Granite Rapids-WS), launched on February 2, 2026 and sold both in OEM workstations and as a boxed retail processor. It unlocks the full W890 platform, with eight DDR5 memory channels and 128 PCIe 5.0 lanes for multi-GPU and storage-heavy builds, but unlike the X models it is not unlocked for overclocking and does not support MRDIMM memory.

General

Manufacturer
Intel
Model
Intel Xeon 656
Segment
Desktop
Generation
Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-WS)
Codename
Granite Rapids-WS
Architecture
x86_64
Microarchitecture
Redwood Cove
Release date
Feb 2, 2026
Price
$1,539Search on Amazon

Cores & clocks

Cores / threads
20 cores / 40 threads
Base clock
2.90 GHz
Boost clock
4.80 GHz
TDP (design W)
210 W
Max: 252 W
Unlocked
✕ No
L2 cache
—
L3 cache
72 MB
Technology (nm)
3 nm
Intel 3

Platform

Socket
FCLGA4710
2-CPU (multi-socket)
✕ No
Integrated GPU
None
Memory type
DDR5-6400 (RDIMM)
8-channel
Memory size
Up to 4,096 GB
ECC memory
✓ Yes
PCIe
PCIe 5.0 (128 lanes)

Instructions & AI

Instruction extensions
SSE4.1SSE4.2AVX2AVX-512AMXAES-NIVT-xVT-d
NPU
None

OS support

Windows
Windows 11 24H2Windows 11 25H2Windows 11 26H2
Notes
Microsoft's Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 supported-processor lists both name the Intel Xeon 600 Processors for Workstation. No separate 26H2 list has been published, so the 25H2 status is carried over.

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