Information about the Intel 4th Gen Xeon CPU family known as ‘Sapphire Rapids-SP’ has leaked out online, just a day after the 3rd Gen Xeon family launched. The Sapphire Rapids-SP family will be replacing the Ice Lake-SP family and will utilize the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process node which will first make its debut later this year in 12th gen Alder Lake desktop CPUs.
The information was posted by well-known leaker Momomo_US and it details three Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs. All three SKUs are engineering samples and come with various core configurations.
According to the latest information, Intel’s Sapphire Rapids-SP lineup is expected to utilize the Golden Cove architecture & will be based on the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process node. The big features of the platform are the PCIe 5.0 support as well as 8-channel DDR5 memory support.
Sapphire Rapids platform will be the first server chip to support PCI Express 5.0. Along with that, it also comes equipped with onboard HBM memory and Computes Express Link 1.1. Looks like Intel is preparing to shift entirely to DDR5 on all platforms by the end of 2021 starting with the Alder Lake platform.
The Intel 4th Gen Xeon Sapphire Rapids lineup will make use of 8 channel DDR5 memory with speeds of up to 4800 MHz and support PCIe Gen 5.0 on the Eagle Stream platform. The Eagle Stream platform will also introduce the LGA 4677 socket which will be replacing the LGA 4189 socket.
The 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 CPU space. Of the three CPUs which have leaked, the top part is started to feature 56 cores with a TDP of 350W. The Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will be composed of a 4-tile layout with each tile featuring 14 cores each.
The other two parts that have been mentioned use a monolithic design. A 24 core part with 225W TDP (Lowest Volume) and a 44 core part with 270W TDP (High Volume + Speed Select) are listed too.
The leaker also claims that the CPU will utilize four compute cores along with four HBM stacks. The socket that will be used is the new LGA4677-X socket.
Intel plans to use its own Sapphire Rapids CPUs in its next-gen HPC platforms, most notably Intel’s own Aurora supercomputer. The Aurora is expected to come equipped with two Sapphire Rapids processors paired alongside six Ponte Vecchio GPUs.
