New P-Core & E-Core chip families are part of Intel’s recently unveiled 2023–2025 roadmap for Xeon Data Center CPUs. P-Core and E-Core are the two categories into which Intel has divided its next-generation Xeon Data Center CPU lineup. The standard Xeon products that we have seen over the years will be the P-Core products. The E-Core products, whose first product, Sierra Forest, is anticipated for release next year, will make use of architectures that are more energy-efficient.
The 5th Gen Xeon family, codenamed Emerald Rapids, is the successor to Intel’s 4th Gen Sapphire Rapids CPU lineup. The Emerald Rapids-SP CPUs are in the sampling stage and should be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The volume validation of these chips will offer higher-quality silicon. The Emerald Rapids-SP lineup also focuses on delivering increased core density gen-on-gen while maintaining the same power envelope. The chips’ complete compatibility with the current 4th Gen Eagle Stream platform will make upgrading from the prior model simple.
The Intel Raptor Cove core architecture, an optimised version of the Golden Cove core that will provide 5–10% IPC improvements over Golden Cove cores, is anticipated to be used by Emerald Rapids.
Additionally, it will feature up to 64 cores and 128 threads, a slight increase over the 56 cores and 112 threads found on Sapphire Rapids chips.
The 64-core maximum Emerald Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs will be offered in 1S/2S server configurations. The Granite Rapids-SP Xeon chips of the following generation won’t be able to be upgraded for the 4S and 8S platforms. The L3 cache, however, is a crucial component that is anticipated to experience a significant improvement on Emerald Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs. The Emerald Rapids-SP CPUs are expected to have up to 320 MB of L3 cache. This is 2.84 times greater than the 112.5 MB L3 cache found on the Xeon 8490H, the top Sapphire Rapids-SP chip.
After Emerald Rapids, Intel intends to switch to Granite Rapids, a completely new Xeon Data Center CPU family and platform. The brand-new processors, which will closely follow Sierra Forest, are scheduled for delivery in 24. The newest x86 CPU architecture built on the Intel 3 process node will be used by the Granite Rapids-SP CPUs. The Redwood Cove core is anticipated to be the name of this area.
The Granite Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs will further increase core densities, memory, and I/O innovations, such as support for DDR5-8800 MCR RDIMMs, and feature support on the Mountain Stream & Birch Stream platforms. The platform will receive up to 1.5 TB/s of bandwidth from the new memory, which will deliver 83% peak bandwidth.
The first-generation Sierra Forest E-Core products from Chipzilla, which have already achieved excellent silicon health and are scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2024, will be released at the same time as Intel’s Granite Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs. The CPU will deliver a new class of Xeon chips designed for workloads optimised for the cloud and support up to 144 cores based on the Intel 3 process node.
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