The Intel Xeon E5-2690 is a server/workstation processor with 8 cores, launched in March 2012. It is part of the Xeon E5 lineup, using the Sandy Bridge-EP architecture with Socket 2011. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 16 threads. To further increase overall system performance, up to two Xeon E5-2690 CPUs can work together in a multi-processor (SMP) configuration. Xeon E5-2690 has 20 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.9 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.8 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Xeon E5-2690 on a 32 nm production node using 2,270 million transistors. The multiplier is locked on Xeon E5-2690, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 135 W, the Xeon E5-2690 consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory with a quad-channel interface. ECC memory is supported, too, which is an important capability for mission-critical systems, to avoid data corruption. For communication with other components in the machine, Xeon E5-2690 uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor lacks integrated graphics, you might need a graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Xeon E5-2690, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.