Intel Xeon W9-3475X 36c/72t 2.2GHz-4.8GHz 360W (PK8071305081600)

Intel Xeon W9-3475X — High-End Workstation CPU for Advanced Simulation, Rendering Farms & Multidisciplinary Engineering Workloads

The Intel Xeon W9-3475X sits at the upper end of Intel’s Sapphire Rapids workstation lineup, offering 36 cores and 72 threads designed for environments where both computational scale and per-core responsiveness matter. It is targeted at studios, engineering teams and research institutions running large production pipelines, simulation workloads and GPU-dense configurations where a workstation must behave like a compact HPC node.

Architecturally, the W9-3475X benefits from Intel’s Golden Cove cores, delivering significantly higher IPC than previous Xeon W generations. This uplift translates into noticeable gains in modeling workflows, animation rigs, physics solvers and node-based procedural systems. The CPU’s 4.8 GHz turbo frequency ensures that viewport interaction, CAD assembly manipulation, shader graph editing and real-time scene adjustments remain responsive even in extremely complex assets.

The larger core count gives the W9-3475X a major advantage in rendering and parallel compute workloads. Engines such as Arnold, V-Ray, Karma, Redshift (CPU), Renderman or Cycles scale efficiently across the 36-core configuration, making the processor well-suited for multi-hour render sequences, simulation baking, large scene conversion and background compute tasks running in parallel with interactive work. Scientific workloads—including finite element modeling, fluid dynamics, electromagnetic solvers, bio-simulation and numerical optimization—benefit from the combination of high thread count, large cache pools and predictable thermal performance.

A defining feature of the W-series is its exceptional memory subsystem. The W9-3475X supports up to eight channels of DDR5, enabling high-capacity configurations that are crucial for volumetric effects, large deformation simulations, ML dataset preprocessing, high-resolution geospatial analysis, and technical workflows involving multi-gigabyte mesh or voxel fields. Memory bandwidth directly influences performance in solvers like Abaqus, OpenFOAM, LS-DYNA, ANSYS Fluent, Houdini Pyro or X-Particles.

With 82.5 MB of L3 cache, the CPU minimizes latency penalties in iterative workloads, hierarchical solvers and simulation stages that require tight data locality. This results in more stable frame-by-frame timing and consistent solver throughput across long-running engineering and VFX workloads.

PCIe 5.0 connectivity and up to 112 lanes enable multi-GPU workstation designs previously exclusive to server platforms. This includes hybrid compute pipelines, GPU-accelerated rendering farms, AI inference nodes, virtual production stages and scientific visualization systems.

In practical production scenarios, the Xeon W9-3475X excels in film/VFX rendering and simulation; CAE and scientific compute; virtual production; hybrid creative pipelines; and workstation configurations replacing small data-center nodes.

Compared to the higher-end W9-3595X, the W9-3475X offers a more thermally efficient profile and excellent performance per watt while retaining strong multi-thread capability and abundant expansion options.