Intel 20 Core & 40 Thread Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPU Spotted & Tested, Dual Socket Config With Up To 75 MB Cache & Up To 4.7 GHz Clocks

An Intel Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPU has been spotted and tested within the Geekbench database. The chip was spotted by Benchleaks and from the looks of things, it seems to be an early sample that is evident by its lower base clock and the fact that was tested on an internal Intel platform & not a third-party Server vendor.

Intel Sapphire Rapids 20 Core & 40 Thread Xeon CPUs Tested In Dual Socket Configuration, Rock Up To 75 MB Cache & 4.7 GHz Clocks

Dissecting the Geekbench listing, it looks like the test platform was part of a 2S configuration that was running dual Intel Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPUs. The engineering sample is listed as Family 6 Model 143 Stepping 2 which confirms that it is part of the Sapphire Rapids lineup & based on the Intel 10nm ESF (Enhanced SuperFin) architecture with Golden Cove cores.

Each CPU features 20 cores and 40 threads & makes up a total of 40 cores and 80 threads for the server itself. Each chip features 75.0 MB of L3 (37.5 MB per chip) and 20.0 MB of L2 cache per chip. Both of these caches have seen a significant boost over the Ice Lake Xeon CPUs.

As for clock speeds, since the Intel Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPU is still an early engineering sample, it has a base clock of 1.50 GHz but can boost up to 4.7 GHz as reported by Geekbench. We cannot say how accurate these clock speeds are but they do look pretty high for a server platform so it could likely be a high-clock optimized chip. The other possibility is like I said, a faulty clock speed which is a very common scenario within the Geekbench database.

The Intel 20 Core & 40 Thread Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPU was tested within the older Geekbench 4 benchmark with 32 GB of memory (presumably DDR5 since that is what the next-generation Xeon chips support) and well, performance was quite lackluster with a single-core score of 1340 points & a multi-core score of 31,666 points. Again, these are results from a very early sample and an older & outdated benchmark so we can see performance improvements in later benchmarks. Sapphire Rapids is pitted for a launch next year so it will take time for better samples to appear in databases.

Here's Everything We Know About Intel's 4th Gen Sapphire Rapids Xeon CPUs

The Sapphire Rapids-SP family will be replacing the Ice Lake-SP family and will go all on board with the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process node that will be making its formal debut later this year in the Alder Lake consumer family. From what we know so far, Intel's Sapphire Rapids-SP lineup is expected to utilize the Golden Cove architecture & will be based on the 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process node.

The Sapphire Rapids lineup will make use of 8 channel DDR5 memory with speeds of up to 4800 MT/s and support PCIe Gen 5.0 on the Eagle Stream platform. The Eagle Stream platform will also introduce the LGA 4677 socket which will be replacing the LGA 4189 socket for Intel's upcoming Cedar Island & Whitley platform which would house Cooper Lake-SP and Ice Lake-SP processors, respectively. The Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs will also come with CXL 1.1 interconnect that will mark a huge milestone for the blue team in the server segment.

Coming to the configurations, the top part is started to feature 56 cores with a TDP of 350W. What is interesting about this configuration is that it is listed as a low-bin split variant which means that it will be using a tile or MCM design. The Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will be composed of a 4-tile layout with each tile featuring 14 cores each.

It looks like AMD will still hold the upper hand in the number of cores & threads offered per CPU with their Genoa chips pushing for up to 96 cores whereas Intel Xeon chips would max out at 56 cores if they don't plan on making SKUs with a higher number of tiles. Intel will have a wider and more expandable platform that can support up to 8 CPUs at once so unless Genoa offers more than 2P (dual-socket) configurations, Intel will have the lead in the most number of cores per rack with an 8S rack packing up to 448 cores and 896 threads.

The Intel Saphhire Rapids CPUs will contain 4 HBM2 stacks with a maximum memory of 64 GB (16GB each). The total bandwidth from these stacks will be 1 TB/s. According to leaked details from AdoredTV, HBM2 and GDDR5 will be able to work together in flat, caching/2LM, and hybrid modes. The presence of memory so near to the die would do absolute wonders for certain workloads that require huge data sets and will basically act as an L4 cache.

AMD has been taking away quite a few wins from Intel as seen in the recent Top500 charts from ISC '21. Intel would really have to up their game in the next couple of years to fight back the AMD EPYC threat.

Intel Xeon CPU Families (Preliminary):

Family Branding	Coral Rapids	Diamond Rapids	Clearwater Forest	Granite Rapids	Sierra Forest	Emerald Rapids	Sapphire Rapids	Ice Lake-SP	Cooper Lake-SP	Cascade Lake-SP/AP	Skylake-SP
Process Node	Intel 14A?	Intel 18A-P	Intel 18A	Intel 3	Intel 3	Intel 7	Intel 7	10nm+	14nm++	14nm++	14nm+
Platform Name	TBD	Intel Oak Stream	Intel Birch Stream	Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Whitley	Intel Cedar Island	Intel Purley	Intel Purley
Core Architecture	TBD	Panther Cove-X	Darkmont	Redwood Cove	Sierra Glen	Raptor Cove	Golden Cove	Sunny Cove	Cascade Lake	Cascade Lake	Skylake
MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Socket	TBD	LGA XXXX / 9324	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4710 / 7529	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	LGA 4189	LGA 4189	LGA 3647	LGA 3647
Max Core Count	TBD	Up To 192 P-Cores	Up To 288	Up To 128	Up To 288	Up To 64?	Up To 56	Up To 40	Up To 28	Up To 28	Up To 28
Max Thread Count	TBD	Up To 192	Up To 288	Up To 256	Up To 288	Up To 128	Up To 112	Up To 80	Up To 56	Up To 56	Up To 56
Max L3 Cache	TBD	TBD	TBD	480 MB L3	108 MB L3	320 MB L3	105 MB L3	60 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3
Memory Support	TBD	Up To 16-Channel DDR5-9000+	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-8000	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400 MCR-8800	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-5600	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-4800	Up To 8-Channel DDR4-3200	Up To 6-Channel DDR4-3200	DDR4-2933 6-Channel	DDR4-2666 6-Channel
PCIe Gen Support	PCIe 6.0	PCIe 6.0	PCIe 5.0 (96 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (136 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (88Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 lanes)	PCIe 4.0 (64 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)
TDP Range (PL1)	TBD	TBD	Up To 500W	Up To 500W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	105-270W	150W-250W	165W-205W	140W-205W
3D Xpoint Optane DIMM	TBD	TBD	N/A	Donahue Pass	N/A	Crow Pass	Crow Pass	Barlow Pass	Barlow Pass	Apache Pass	N/A
Competition	TBD	AMD EPYC Venice	AMD EPYC Turin	AMD EPYC Turin	AMD EPYC Bergamo	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Milan 7nm+	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Naples 14nm
Launch	2028-2029	2027	2026	2024	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2018	2017

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