CPU Xeon vs iCore (7 or 9)

Question

I have no idea where to begin... How about a little history? About a decade ago I conducted a series of tests in (ArcMap) between my development environment and my analytics environment. I found that for the software that I was developing which deals with very large datasets the Intel Xeon processor outperformed the iCore. However, when I was wearing my Analytical hat, and running "basic" GeoProcessing Tools such as, 'Locate Features', 'Buffers', etc. the iCore outperformed the Xeon. The analogy I thought of is Xeon = Big Rig Truck vs. iCore = {insert your favorite fast car here}.

Fast forward now to ArcGIS Pro. Can anyone tell me if there remains to be a significant performance difference between the Xeon and iCore's in either environment (Developing (Big Data) vs Analytical user)? Same scenarios as outlined above. Only now, I am rewriting my software from ArcMap to ArcGIS Pro. I realize that my previous question is almost certainly a loaded one and can have a wide range of answers. I also understand instruction sets and all that in CPU's. It really is a question that comes down to cost. Is the Xeon worth it still, or can the iCore 7 or 9 do the trick?

My thought is that with the new x64 environment (ArcGIS Pro) the old benchmarks (ArcMap) may not hold any weight, and thus I can save some money by purchasing iCore processors with only negligible processor time differences as compared to respective Xeon counterparts.

Go easy on me with the answers. I can get into the weeds very quickly; however, I opted not to do that here. Thank you in advance for your help and insight.

dewright_ca · Accepted Answer

I have my team using Xeons over i7 chips; for the fact that architecturally the Xeon is designed to be a "Enterprise" class CPU with more error-handling and management built into the core.

Now if you are not building and running large multi-threaded Geoprocessing tasks then likely the i9/i7 will do great for you as these are multi-core and matched to a good GPU will do even seriously taxing work without major hiccups.

If you are building and running processes that will run for 24 hours or more that can't be reasonably done server-side; then Xeon is the solid choice.

For me; it's been about long-term stability across the platform.

This is based on my professional experience doing State scale data for a State Agency for 16 years; so opinions will vary based on their individual experiences.