Specifications have also been leaked for Intel's Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU family, which features a total of 46 SKUs planned for the Eagle Stream platform. For the Sapphire Rapids-SP, Intel has adopted a four-chip multi-chip design that will be available in both HBM and non-HBM types. Although each chip is its own unit, the assembled chip is more like a single SoC. Each thread has full access to all resources on all modules, consistently providing low latency and high cross section bandwidth across the SoC.
But some of the key changes that will be made available to the data center platform will include AMX, AiA, FP16 and CLDEMOTE capabilities. Accelerator engines will improve the efficiency of each kernel by offloading common-mode tasks to these dedicated accelerator engines, which will improve performance and reduce the time to complete the necessary tasks.
On the I/O front, the Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will introduce CXL 1.1 for accelerators and memory expansion in the data center space. There is also an improved multi-slot expansion with Intel UPI, which provides 4x24 UPI links at 16GT/s, and a new 8s-4upi performance-optimized topology. The new tile architecture design also boosts the cache to more than 100MB while supporting the Optane Persistent Memory 300 series. The collection will also have HBM-type products that will use different packaging designs.
The Sapphire Rapids will support 8-channel DDR5 memory at speeds of up to 4800 Mbps and support PCIe Gen 5.0 for Eagle Stream platform (C740 chipset).
The Eagle Stream platform will also introduce the LGA 4677 socket, which will replace the LGA 4189 socket on Intel's upcoming Cedar Island and Whitley platforms, which will house Cooper Lake-SP and Ice Lake-SP processors, respectively. Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon cpus will also come with CXL 1.1 interconnect, which will be a huge milestone for Intel in the server space.
In terms of configuration, the top model has 60 cores and a TDP of 350W. The interesting thing about this configuration is that it is listed as a low berth split model, which means it will use a tile or MCM design. The Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will consist of four tile layouts with 14 cores per tile.
Now Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will have four tiers according to the specifications provided by YuuKi_AnS:
Copper grade: 150W TDP
Silver grade: 145-165W TDP
Gold grade: 150-270W TDP
Platinum grade: 250-350W+ TDP
The TDP listed here is PL1 rated, so PL2 rated products will be above 400W, and the BIOS limit is expected to hover above 700W. Compared to the last time most SKUs were still in ES1/ES2 state, the new specifications are mostly reflected in the final chip that will be sold at retail.
Intel will offer a variety of SKUs with the same architecture but different volumes that affect their clock /TDP. For example, the catalog has four 44-core components with 82.5MB of cache, but each SKU will have a different clock speed. There is also a A0 version of the Sapphire Rapids-SP HBM 'Gold' CPU, which has 48 cores, 96 threads, 90MB cache, and a TDP of 350W. The flagship product in this line is the Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H, which offers 60 large cores, 120 threads, 112.5MB L3 cache, 2.9 GHz full core lift clock, and 350W of basic TDP numbers.
It looks like AMD will still have the upper hand in the number of cores and threads provided per CPU, with their Genoa chips offering up to 96 cores and Intel Xeon chips going up to 60 cores if they don't plan to produce more. Intel will have a broader and more scalable platform that can support 8 cpus at the same time, so unless Genoa offers more than 2P (dual slot) configurations, Intel will lead in maximum number of cores per rack, an 8S rack can pack 480 cores and 960 threads. The Xeon Sapphire Rapids-SP series is expected to begin mass production by the end of 2022, while AMD will ship its Genoa EPYC 9000 series in the fourth quarter of 2022.