The latest Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU with 56 Golden Cove cores has been unearthed by Yuuki_ans. This chip is still an engineering sample but comes with much higher power numbers than the ones we have previously talked about.
Intel’s Sapphire Rapids-SP 56 Core CPU Sample Operates at Up To 3.3 GHz in ES State, Draws An Insane 420W at MTP & 764W Peak Limit
The ES2 CPUs have leaked before too and we have seen boost frequencies of up to 3.3 GHz but that sample had a 270W TDP. The latest sample should either be Xeon Platinum 8476 or Platinum 8480 and rocks a total of 56 Golden Cove cores with 112 threads. The CPU carries 112 MB of L2 & 105 MB of L3 cache. The CPU was tested on an Intel C741 (Emmitsburg) platform with 1 TB DDR5 memory with CL40-39-38-76 timings.
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU with 56 cores has been spotted in the latest leak by Yuuki_ans.
As for the clock speeds, the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU was running at a base clock speed of 1.9 GHz and a boost clock speed of 3.3 GHz. The CPU has a maximum single-core boost clock of 3.7 GHz. The power figures are where things get insane as the processor running on the Socket E (LGA 4677) motherboard has a base TDP of 350W (PL1) and a maximum turbo power rating (PL2) rated at an insane 420W. But that’s not all, the actual CPU (BIOS-enforced) power limit is reported at 764W which could be with AVX-512 enabled.
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU Clock & Power Profiles (Image Credits: Yuuki_ans):
As for how well the chip was operating, the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU can be seen running at 99C though we don’t know what sort of cooling was used to test this chip. Bear in mind that load was not applied to the chip. While early performance benchmarks look decent enough against AMD EPYC Milan, the CPU will launch at a time when Genoa will be at its prime, and based on the power numbers here, things aren’t looking great for Intel in the efficiency department. We know that the final samples will retain the power limits but they might offer better thermal & power management than the engineering samples. But whether or not that’s enough to tackle AMD’s EPYC lineup will remain to be seen.
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 3 | 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 |
| Core Architecture | Skylake | Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake | Sunny Cove | Golden Cove | Raptor Cove | Redwood Cove? | Lion Cove? |
| IPC Improvement (Vs Prev Gen) | 10% | 0% | 0% | 20% | 19% | 8%? | 35%? | 39%? |
| MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | TBD (Possibly Yes) | TBD (Possibly Yes) |
| Socket | LGA 3647 | LGA 3647 | LGA 4189 | LGA 4189 | LGA 4677 | LGA 4677 | TBD | TBD |
| Max Core Count | Up To 28 | Up To 28 | Up To 28 | Up To 40 | Up To 56 | Up To 64? | Up To 120? | Up To 144? |
| Max Thread Count | Up To 56 | Up To 56 | Up To 56 | Up To 80 | Up To 112 | Up To 128? | Up To 240? | Up To 288? |
| Max L3 Cache | 38.5 MB L3 | 38.5 MB L3 | 38.5 MB L3 | 60 MB L3 | 105 MB L3 | 120 MB L3? | 240 MB L3? | 288 MB L3? |
| Vector Engines | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-512/FMA2 | AVX-1024/FMA3? | AVX-1024/FMA3? |
| 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 DDR5-5600? | Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400? | Up To 12-Channel DDR6-7200? |
| 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 (80 Lanes) | PCIe 6.0 (128 Lanes)? | PCIe 6.0 (128 Lanes)? |
| TDP Range (PL1) | 140W-205W | 165W-205W | 150W-250W | 105-270W | Up To 350W | Up To 375W? | Up To 400W? | Up To 425W? |
| 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? |
