Intel’s plans for the workstation market with its Sapphire Rapids-WS are taking form as a widely known {hardware} leaker revealed preliminary specs for the brand new CPUs. Intel’s lineup of next-generation Xeon merchandise for workstations and high-end desktops will embrace overclockable CPUs with as much as 56 cores, eight reminiscence channels, and 112 PCIe lanes if the data revealed by respected {hardware} leaker Enthusiastic Citizen (ECSM_Official) is right.
The New Household of Workstation CPUs from Intel
Intel’s household of next-generation Xeon W processors for W790-based workstations will reportedly encompass two households of merchandise that can supply barely totally different capabilities. The Xeon W 3400-series CPUs will likely be derived from a multi-chiplet Sapphire Rapids design and can characteristic as much as 56 cores, eight DDR5 reminiscence channels, and 112 PCIe lanes. As well as, CPU cores utilized by these processors will likely be Golden Cove-derived cores with AVX-512 and AMX directions enabled. Against this, the Xeon W-2400-series processors will use a single-die design with as much as 24 cores, 4 DDR5 reminiscence channels, and 64 PCIe lanes.
Intel’s Xeon W-2400 and W3400-series processors are anticipated to come back in LGA4677 packaging and use W790-based workstation motherboards. One of many first W790 mainboards leaked final week, which means that a few of Intel’s companions are on the brink of ship these merchandise sooner relatively than later. In the meantime, a rumor means that Intel solely intends to roll out its W790 platform subsequent April, so it’s too early to ship applicable motherboards. Then once more, Intel has by no means formally confirmed the launch timeframe for its W790 platform and solely confirmed that this one is designed for workstations.
Intel Xeon W-3400: As much as 56 Overclockable Cores
Intel’s Xeon W-3400-series lineup will allegedly embrace 9 fashions, 4 of which will likely be overclockable. Even the flagship Xeon W9-3495X is anticipated to come back with an unlocked multiplier making for overclocking assist.
Linux boot logs unearthed earlier this yr basically affirm the existence of Intel’s Xeon W-3400-series CPUs (which include AVX-512 and AMX enabled). Nonetheless, additionally they point out the Xeon W9-3495 (non-X) CPU clocked at 1.80 GHz base, which Enthusiastic Citizen doesn’t checklist. We do not know whether or not Intel modified its plans regarding its Sapphire Rapids-WS lineup since July, however we’re coping with preliminary data, so some particulars could also be inaccurate.
Intel’s Xeon W-3400-series depends on Sapphire Rapids silicon, which is able to supply AVX-512 assist and AMX directions for synthetic intelligence and machine studying functions. Superior Matrix Extensions is a tiled matrix multiplication accelerator, a grid of fused multiply-add items supporting BF16 and INT8 enter varieties that may be programmed utilizing solely 12 directions and carry out as much as 1024 TMUL BF16 or 2048 TMUL INT8 operations per cycle per core.
At the moment, there are not any workstation-grade CPUs that includes as much as 56 cores and AVX-512 directions, so this will likely be a tangible benefit of Intel’s X-3400-series processors over present AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Professional 5000WX-series merchandise. In the meantime, AMD is engaged on the next-generation Zen 4-based Ryzen Threadripper Professional 7000WX household codenamed Storm Peak that will even assist AVX-512, however we do not know when these CPUs are set to turn out to be accessible.
What is going to actually set Intel’s Xeon W-3400 other than the competitors is AMX assist since these directions will make it extraordinarily aggressive in AI/ML and different sorts of matrix multiplication workloads. One could argue that workstations hardly run such functions, however somebody has to develop and take a look at AMX-supporting functions on one thing, and they’re going to doubtless go for a Xeon W-3400-based machine. Moreover, as soon as workstation packages learn to use AMX correctly, Sapphire Rapids-WS-based gadgets can have a bonus over the competitors for a while.
Intel Xeon W-2400: As much as 24 Overclockable Cores
Intel’s Xeon W-2400-series household will reportedly comprise eight SKUs, 4 of which will likely be overclockable. Whereas we can’t state this for certain, however we suspect that the W2000-series will use Intel’s 34-core Raptor Lake-S silicon. In the meantime, even the range-topping Xeon W7-2495X options 24 cores with Hyper-Threading. Maybe, Intel but has to reveal extra Xeon W-2400-series fashions with larger core counts to companions. Or possibly the corporate determined to sacrifice eight cores for extra yields, clocks, or maybe first rate clocks for AVX-512.
Three attention-grabbing SKUs that Intel allegedly has within the Xeon W-2400 lineup are the eight-core W5-2435 in addition to the six-core W3-2425 and W3-2423 processors. Assuming that these chips could be overclocked by elevating BCLK frequency (we aren’t certain it will work on a workstation-grade W790 platform, however who is aware of?), they’ll definitely appeal to the eye of the world’s high skilled overclockers. In the meantime, we will solely ponder whether these elements will likely be profitable commercially or share the destiny of Intel’s Kaby Lake-X processors for the X299 platform geared toward fans.
It’s noteworthy that the Xeon W4-2423 processor doesn’t assist Hyper-Threading, in response to Enthusiastic Citizen, which is a giant shock for a 2023 workstation processor. Curiously, there are additionally Xeon W5-3433 and W5-3423 processors within the 3400-series household, however there is no such thing as a phrase whether or not they assist simultaneous multithreading.
Worthy Contender? Perhaps
Intel’s Xeon W-3000 and W-2000-series processors may give AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper Professional a very good run for his or her cash if the data is right. But, whereas Enthusiastic Citizen tends to be very correct and due to this fact has a very good popularity, we’re nonetheless coping with unofficial data, so take it with a grain of salt.