During the Architecture Day 2021 of Intel, the company released a lot of information about its next-generation Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU family. And the folks at Moore’s Law is Dead are unveiling information on the products beyond what was announced meaning we now have some evidence as to what the Emerald Rapids, Granite Rapids & Diamond Rapids will look like.
According to official sources, Intel’s Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs will be the first to introduce a multi-tile chipset design and will be featuring the latest Golden Cove core architecture which will also power the Alder Lake lineup.
Intel will be offering a maximum of 56 cores and 112 threads with up to 350W TDP with the latest lineup. Intel’s rival AMD on the other hand is offering up to 96 cores and 192 threads with up to 400W TDP with its EPYC Genoa processors. This means that AMD holds a big advantage when it comes to cache sizes, IO capabilities, & moreover what Intel has to offer.
So let’s see what Intel has to offer with its next-generation server processors:
Intel Emerald Rapids-SP Xeon CPU Family
According to the leak, Intel’s Emerald Rapids-SP Xeon CPU family will be manufactured using Intel’s 7nm process node and it will be a 2nd Gen ‘Intel 7’ node meaning that it will lead to slightly higher efficiency. Reports indicate that Emerald Rapids will make use of the Raptor Cove core architecture which is the optimized variant of the Golden Cove delivering up to 5-10% IPC improvement over Golden Cove cores.
Intel Granite Rapids-SP Xeon CPU Family
Then we have the Granite Rapids-SP Xeon and that it will be based on the ‘Intel 4’ process node (Formely 7nm EUV) however, we still have no idea when the chips will come to the market. According to rumours, the chips will be coming between 2023 and 2024 as Emerald Rapids will be serving as an intermediary solution.
Intel’s Granite Rapids-SP Xeon chips will have the Redwood Cove core architecture and Intel also teased a high-level overview of its Granite Rapids-SP CPU during its ‘Accelerated’ keynote. The Compute tile on the processors is composed of 60 cores per die which equal 120 cores in total.
Intel Diamond Rapids-SP Xeon CPU Family
finally, we have the Diamond Rapids-SP and this lineup is stated this will be a big win for Intel against AMD since its first EPYC launched back in 2017. Diamond Rapids Xeon CPUs are expected to launch by 2025 and will have a new architecture that will be positioned against the Zen 5.
The Diamond Rapids-SP lineup isn’t expected by 2025 so it’s still far off and AMD we have no idea as to how AMD will react to this and Intel’s rival will not easily let team blue ruin its rise to the top. For more information stay tuned.
Intel Xeon SP Families:
| Family Branding | Skylake-SP | Cascade Lake-SP/AP | Cooper Lake-SP | Ice Lake-SP | Sapphire Rapids | Emerald Rapids | Granite Rapids | Diamond Rapids |
| Process Node | 14nm+ | 14nm++ | 14nm++ | 10nm+ | Intel 7 | Intel 7 | Intel 4 | Intel 3? |
| Platform Name | Intel Purley | Intel Purley | Intel Cedar Island | Intel Whitley | Intel Eagle Stream | Intel Eagle Stream | Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream | Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream |
| MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | TBD | TBD (Possibly Yes) | TBD (Possibly Yes) |
| Socket | LGA 3647 | LGA 3647 | LGA 4189 | LGA 4189 | LGA 4677 | LGA 4677 | LGA 4677 | TBD |
| Max Core Count | Up To 28 | Up To 28 | Up To 28 | Up To 40 | Up To 56 | TBD | Up To 120? | TBD |
| Max Thread Count | Up To 56 | Up To 56 | Up To 56 | Up To 80 | Up To 112 | TBD | Up To 240? | TBD |
| Max L3 Cache | 38.5 MB L3 | 38.5 MB L3 | 38.5 MB L3 | 60 MB L3 | 105 MB L3 | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| Memory Support | DDR4-2666 6-Channel | DDR4-2933 6-Channel | Up To 6-Channel DDR4-3200 | Up To 8-Channel DDR4-3200 | Up To 8-Channel DDR5-4800 | Up To 8-Channel DDR5-5200? | TBD | TBD |
| PCIe Gen Support | PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes) | PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes) | PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes) | PCIe 4.0 (64 Lanes) | PCIe 5.0 (80 lanes) | PCIe 5.0 | PCIe 6.0? | PCIe 6.0? |
| TDP Range | 140W-205W | 165W-205W | 150W-250W | 105-270W | Up To 350W | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| 3D Xpoint Optane DIMM | N/A | Apache Pass | Barlow Pass | Barlow Pass | Crow Pass | Crow Pass? | Donahue Pass? | Donahue Pass? |
| Competition | AMD EPYC Naples 14nm | AMD EPYC Rome 7nm | AMD EPYC Rome 7nm | AMD EPYC Milan 7nm+ | AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm | AMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa) | AMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa) | AMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa) |
| Launch | 2017 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023? | 2024? | 2025? |
