Yesterday Intel launched Granite Rapids-SP CPUs now known as Xeon 6, Xeon SoC, and different issues. SemiAccurate thinks there actually isn’t a lot to see right here however we’ll record them out in your… err… pleasure?
Final 12 months we noticed the launch of the Granite Rapids UCC half, the three CPU tile plus two IO tile variant, no extra -SP and -AP it appears. Immediately we now have the XCC 2+2 CPU tile/IO tile variant, the HCC 1+2, and the LCC new die + 2 with as much as 86, 48, and 16-cores respectively. Herein lies the primary drawback, on the UCC launch Intel flatly refused to say what number of cores had been on a CPU tile. Since 128 doesn’t divide properly by three, the quantity was clearly at the least 43. 43 is just not a pleasant laptop quantity both and the XCC has 2×43 lively cores however the HCC has ‘as much as’ 48c. So the reply is 48 proper?
4 Of The 5 New Variants
Not so quick, all the photographs/renders of the die Intel confirmed off solely have 44 die candidate spots so… We will’t inform both so we requested. It seems that the multi-CPU tile elements have 44c per die and the only CPU tile elements have 48c. That will be UCC/XCC and HCC respectively however Intel used the identical 44c pic for each within the slides. Mainly the CPU tile to CPU tile interconnects had been eliminated on HCC and changed with cores. The LCC die has a claimed 16 candidates and the picture matches there so not a lot controversy this time. Since SemiAccurate is understood for snark, we supplied Intel assist with chiplet reuse planning by means of backchannels however they politely declined.
The Fundamental Specs
These variants are packaged into the 4 new strains talked about above, with the 6500 and 6700 strains being the meat of the market. They solely have eight reminiscence channels uncovered even when the 2 IO dies are able to twice that. The socket limits the chips to eight to avoid wasting prices and board layers however relegates greater efficiency UCC elements to low quantity, excessive price, bespoke socket elements. Now the place have I heard that earlier than?
Three Units of Xeon 6700/6500
Extra problematic is the TDP, with the 86 core, 8-channel elements hitting 350W, they merely aren’t aggressive with AMD in the case of TCO. Epyc 9005/Turin CPUs will get you 192C for 500W or 160C for 390W, each of which have 12 reminiscence channels lively. Should you run the TCO numbers on that, Intel doesn’t come out so effectively. As you go down the AMD stack, issues enhance a bit for Intel however, effectively, decrease core rely prospects have a tendency to not be so centered on TCO.
Transferring again to Intel, their presentation follows the trail of evaluating very choose benchmarks the place Intel does effectively, and principally evaluating to CPUs in their very own strains. This greater than something tells you about Granite Rapids’ aggressive place however that isn’t information to anybody. The lengthy and the brief is that this launch gained’t transfer the needle for Intel, however once more, not information.
The SoC Lineup
Subsequent up on the record is the up to date Xeon-D now known as Xeon 6 SoC for causes each apparent and unknown. Take two tiles so 88 core candidates and cap it at 72c. As a substitute of two IO tiles, use a single new one with 200GbE and media accelerators in-built. Add in compulsory AI hype and unexplained VRAN acceleration and you’ve got the brand new SoC. It sounds attention-grabbing however with out specifics on the accelerators we’ll cease far in need of being .
The Xeon 6300 Lineup
That brings us to the shock child Xeon, the 6300 collection. This one caps out at 8 cores and two reminiscence channels which implies it’s in all probability a repurposed desktop half with the crippled cores fused off. No rationalization about this half was given so we will’t inform you a lot about it. This was once the realm of the Xeon-D however that has moved up on this planet so the 6300 is the brand new entry machine. Yay?
Final up we now have a few new NICs, the 200GbE twin port E830 and the 10GbE E610 line with both two or 4 ports. Not a lot to say right here, they’re what they are saying on the tin, a crucial improve to help the throughput of the system.
So in the long run we now have a couple of new strains of Intel Xeon 6 CPUs. The headline acts are reused tiles from final 12 months’s Granite Rapids UCC/6900 launch, about what you’d anticipate. The LCC die provides a brand new CPU tile with 16c max, it might be dwarfed by the 2 IO tiles however it’s new. Lastly the Xeon 6 SoC has a brand new IO tile which is de facto attention-grabbing however SemiAccurate lacks the knowledge to inform you any particulars. All in all this launch is about what we anticipated, principally reused bits with a couple of twists. It isn’t going to vary the sport however Intel will promote lots of them. Instructed you so.S|A
