A recently surfaced slide deck reveals details about the upcoming Intel 5th Gen Xeon “Emerald Rapids” processors designed for next-gen data center CPUs. The incomplete Intel “Data-Centric Processor Roadmap” presentation, discovered by @InstLatX64, offers insights into the chip layout and performance, though some key data points are still missing.
The All New Intel 5th Gen Xeon
The 5th Gen Xeon CPUs, codenamed Emerald Rapids, mark a shift from the 4th Gen Sapphire Rapids with a transition from a 4-tile design to a 2-tile design. The flagship chip, Xeon 8592+, boasts 64 cores, 128 threads, and an expansive 480 MB L3 cache pool. The P-Core architecture under the Raptor Cove ISA forms the basis of these CPUs, with each chiplet connected through a modular die fabric positioned between the core and cache arrays. Key features of the Intel Emerald Rapids CPUs include:
- Increased Performance & Performance/Watt
- Higher Core Counts with a larger shared L3 cache
- Compute Express Link (CXL) Type 1, 2, & 3
- Enhanced Intel Ultra Path Interconnect Speeds (UPI)
- Up To 80 PCIe Gen5 Lanes
- Intel Accelerator Engines
- Increased Memory Speeds
The 5th Gen Xeon “Emerald Rapids” CPUs promise up to 3x larger Last-Level Cache (LLC), higher memory speeds, increased CPU core count (up to 64 cores), CXL Type 3 high bandwidth interface, workload optimizations with Intel Accelerator Engines, optimized power mode, and up to a 17% increase in General Purpose Performance/Watt.
The Accelerator Engines embedded in these CPUs feature the latest Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) for built-in AI acceleration, accompanied by a suite of AI software utilizing optimized open-source frameworks and tools. Intel asserts that these next-gen Xeon chips will deliver improved Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Performance per Dollar gains over the 4th Gen Xeon, offering a seamless upgrade path due to the shared socket and platform with the previous generation.
Performance benchmarks showcase the 5th Gen Xeon Platinum 8592+ (Emerald Rapids) 64 Core CPU against the 4th Gen Xeon Platinum 8480+ (Sapphire Rapids) 56 Core CPU in various tasks, revealing gains such as:
- Web (Server-side Java Throughput) = +20% Gain
- HPC (LAMMPS-Copper) = +30% Gain
- Media (Transcode FFMPEG FPS) = +20% Gain
- AI Natural Language Processing = +40% Gain
- AI Recommendation Systems = +40% Gain
While these official benchmarks demonstrate commendable performance improvements, it remains essential to await third-party results for a comprehensive evaluation. As AMD‘s EPYC family has been setting records in terms of performance and efficiency, the competition between Intel’s 5th Gen Emerald Rapids CPUs and AMD’s EPYC 9004/8004 lineup, based on the Zen 4 and Zen 4C architecture, continues to unfold. Intel’s 5th Gen Emerald Rapids CPUs are scheduled for launch on December 14th.
