This year, AMD and Intel are delivering some very ridiculous server CPU platforms for their EPYC and Xeon families. Yuuki AnS, who has leaked the whole motherboard picture of AMD and Intel server platforms, has the most recent images. We saw the AMD SP5 CPU socket a few weeks ago, but now we’re getting to see the entire motherboard.
The motherboard contains two SP5 (LGA 6096) sockets that are surrounded by 24 DDR5 DIMM slots, starting with the AMD SP5 platform. With 12 DDR5 memory channels and 2 DIMMs per channel, 1 TB 3DS RDIMM modules can be used to provide up to 12 TB of system memory. In terms of the board itself, it features at least 38 VRMs, with the majority of them dedicated to the DDR5 slots and IO, while the CPUs are powered by a 7-phase VRM with their heat sink.
The motherboard also appears to include two 8-pin connectors, while the complete power connector configuration is not visible. Each AMD EPYC Genoa will be able to consume up to 700W of power, necessitating a more power-heavy interconnect configuration. Up to 192 cores and 384 threads will be available on this dual-socket motherboard.
Coming over to Intel
We’re looking at another dual-socket arrangement on the Intel platform, this time with two LGA 4677 sockets and support for the Xeon Sapphire Rapids-SP server CPUs. There are 32 DDR5 DIMM slots surrounding the sockets. The motherboard also boasts a staggering 34 VRM phases, which power the two CPU sockets as well as the massive DDR5 DIMM array. A total of 8 TB of DDR5 memory will be available.
Despite a PL1 rating of up to 350W, the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs can reach over 700W at their max limit. On the motherboard, we notice dual 8-pin connectors as well as a 12-pin connector.
In the second half of this year, the Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC CPUs will compete. Except for a few specialized tasks where Intel is counting on its AVX-512 and HBM horsepower, it appears like AMD will continue to outperform Xeon CPUs in practically every sector. Regardless, both platforms are insane and will provide a significant upgrade to HPC clients on both sides.
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