Is updating your Makefile to use icc instead of gcc worth it? In 2017, the answer was a resounding "yes."
As of 2025, Intel strongly recommends moving to Intel oneAPI. However, migrating from Intel Parallel Studio XE 2017 has friction points: intel parallel studio xe 2017
| Feature | XE 2017 | oneAPI (2024+) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Compiler Name | icc / ifort | icx (LLVM-based) / ifx |
| GPU Offload | No (CPU only) | Yes (SYCL support) |
| Xeon Phi (KNL) | Full maturity | Deprecated |
| License Cost | Paid (legacy) | Free for most users | Is updating your Makefile to use icc instead
The Verdict: If you are writing new code for modern Xeon Scalable CPUs, upgrade to oneAPI (which is free). If you need to exactly reproduce results from a 2017 simulation or maintain a legacy Fortran codebase, keep Intel Parallel Studio XE 2017 running in a containerized environment (Docker with CentOS 7). If you need to exactly reproduce results from
Intel Parallel Studio XE 2017 was part of the pre-oneAPI era. In 2020, Intel replaced the XE toolkits with Intel oneAPI Base & HPC Toolkits, which use the open-source LLVM-based icx/ifx compilers and unified across CPU, GPU, FPGA.
Still, many legacy HPC systems and enterprise codebases today require Intel Parallel Studio XE 2017 to maintain binary compatibility or use specific Cilk Plus or older MKL versions.