Intel Xeon 6: Giant processors reveal themselves
Intel will soon be stepping up a gear with server CPUs: in addition to a Xeon 6 with 288 E cores, one with 128 P cores is likely to follow.
A Xeon processor from the Sapphire Rapids generation. This year's models will be even bigger.
(Bild: Intel)
Intel has promised to launch Xeons of the new Generation 6 (Xeon 6) on the market in the next few weeks. First up will be variants with a large number of efficiency cores (E-Cores) called Sierra Forrest. Granite Rapids will follow in the second half of the year, exclusively with performance (P) cores.
Unofficial information now shows that a total of 29 different Xeon 6 versions in four designs are apparently planned for two platforms. The cheaper "SP" platform includes motherboards with one or two LGA4710 sockets for eight DDR5 memory channels each. It comes with Xeon 6 processors with a maximum thermal design power (TDP) of 350 watts, including the 144-core Xeon 6 6780E.
The "AP" platform with the LGA7529 socket is significantly more powerful, as it allows 12 DDR5 channels and 500 watts TDP. The Sierra Forrest with 288 E cores will only be available in the LGA7529 housing. This model uses a second compute chiplet and is therefore physically larger than the 144-core.
The RAM data transfer rate on the AP platform can be increased even further using so-called MCR DIMMs if only a single memory bar of this type is inserted in each channel (1 DIMM per channel, 1DPC). Because a single MCR DIMM of the DDR5-8400 class transfers around 67 GByte/s, the 24 RAM channels of a board with two LGA7529 processors together deliver up to 1.6 TByte/s.
The core competition enters the next round
According to the X account "YuuKi_AnS", Intel is also planning the Xeon 6 6980P with 128 P cores as the top Xeon 6 model. This would be the first time since 2017 that Intel has had as many P-cores in a server processor as its competitor AMD. At that time, Intel offered the Skylake SP with a maximum of 28 CPU cores, while AMD offered 32 cores consisting of four individual chips with Naples. In the following years, the gap widened due to AMD's chiplet design.
AMD plans to introduce the fifth Epyc generation Turin with 128 Zen 5 cores in the course of this year. The competitor to Sierra Forest –, the successor to Bargamo –, is expected to appear with 192 Zen 5c cores, but unlike the Intel model, it is capable of simultaneous multithreading (SMT). This means it can process 384 threads simultaneously.
"YuuKi_AnS" is considered reliable in rumors about server CPUs: He has repeatedly shown pre-production processors and matching motherboards in advance – as he did with the Xeon 6 – and has been correct in the past with the specifications mentioned, for example with the fourth-generation Xeon Sapphire Rapids.
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