Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP 56 Core Xeon CPU Spotted: ES Chip With 3.3 GHz Boost Clock, 420W Max Turbo Power, 764W BIOS Limit – Wccftech

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.

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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 BrandingSkylake-SPCascade Lake-SP/APCooper Lake-SPIce Lake-SPSapphire RapidsEmerald RapidsGranite RapidsDiamond Rapids
Process Node14nm+14nm++14nm++10nm+Intel 7Intel 7Intel 3Intel 3?
Platform NameIntel PurleyIntel PurleyIntel Cedar IslandIntel WhitleyIntel Eagle StreamIntel Eagle StreamIntel Mountain Stream
Intel Birch Stream
Intel Mountain Stream
Intel Birch Stream
Core ArchitectureSkylakeCascade LakeCascade LakeSunny CoveGolden CoveRaptor CoveRedwood Cove?Lion Cove?
IPC Improvement (Vs Prev Gen)10%0%0%20%19%8%?35%?39%?
MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUsNoYesNoNoYesYesTBD (Possibly Yes)TBD (Possibly Yes)
SocketLGA 3647LGA 3647LGA 4189LGA 4189LGA 4677LGA 4677TBDTBD
Max Core CountUp To 28Up To 28Up To 28Up To 40Up To 56Up To 64?Up To 120?Up To 144?
Max Thread CountUp To 56Up To 56Up To 56Up To 80Up To 112Up To 128?Up To 240?Up To 288?
Max L3 Cache38.5 MB L338.5 MB L338.5 MB L360 MB L3105 MB L3120 MB L3?240 MB L3?288 MB L3?
Vector EnginesAVX-512/FMA2AVX-512/FMA2AVX-512/FMA2AVX-512/FMA2AVX-512/FMA2AVX-512/FMA2AVX-1024/FMA3?AVX-1024/FMA3?
Memory SupportDDR4-2666 6-ChannelDDR4-2933 6-ChannelUp To 6-Channel DDR4-3200Up To 8-Channel DDR4-3200Up To 8-Channel DDR5-4800Up To 8-Channel DDR5-5600?Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400?Up To 12-Channel DDR6-7200?
PCIe Gen SupportPCIe 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-205W165W-205W150W-250W105-270WUp To 350WUp To 375W?Up To 400W?Up To 425W?
3D Xpoint Optane DIMMN/AApache PassBarlow PassBarlow PassCrow PassCrow Pass?Donahue Pass?Donahue Pass?
CompetitionAMD EPYC Naples 14nmAMD EPYC Rome 7nmAMD EPYC Rome 7nmAMD EPYC Milan 7nm+AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nmAMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa)AMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa)AMD Next-Gen EPYC (Post Genoa)
Launch201720182020202120222023?2024?2025?