Intel’s Sapphire Rapids HBM ‘Xeon Scalable’ CPUs With 64 GB HBM2e Memory Offer Up To 3x Performance Increase Over Ice Lake Xeons

Intel has once again demonstrated its upcoming Sapphire Rapids HBM Xeon Scalable CPUs with up to 64 GB HBM2e memory in various workloads.

Intel Promises 3x Performance Boost With Its Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids HBM 'Xeon Scalable' CPU Lineup

According to Intel, the Sapphire Rapids-SP will come in two package variants, a standard, and an HBM configuration. The standard variant will feature a chiplet design composed of four XCC dies that will feature a die size of around 400mm2. This is the die size for a singular XCC die and there will be four in total on the top Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon chip. Each die will be interconnected via EMIB which has a pitch size of 55u and a core pitch of 100u.

The Intel Xeon processor code-named Sapphire Rapids with High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a great example of how we are leveraging advanced packaging technologies and silicon innovations to bring substantial performance, bandwidth, and power-saving improvements for HPC. With up to 64 gigabytes of high-bandwidth HBM2e memory in the package and accelerators integrated into the CPU, we’re able to unleash memory bandwidth-bound workloads while delivering significant performance improvements across key HPC use cases.

When comparing 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors to the upcoming Sapphire Rapids HBM processors, we are seeing two- to three-times performance increases across weather research, energy, manufacturing, and physics workloads2. At the keynote, Ansys CTO Prith Banerjee also shows that Sapphire Rapids HBM delivers up to 2x performance increase on real-world workloads from Ansys Fluent and ParSeNet.

The standard Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon chip will feature 10 EMIB interconnects and the entire package will measure at a mighty 4446mm2. Moving over to the HBM variant, we are getting an increased number of interconnects which sit at 14 and are needed to interconnect the HBM2E memory to the cores.

The four HBM2E memory packages will feature 8-Hi stacks so Intel is going for at least 16 GB of HBM2E memory per stack for a total of 64 GB across the Sapphire Rapids-SP package. Talking about the package, the HBM variant will measure at an insane 5700mm2 or 28% larger than the standard variant. Compared to the recently leaked EPYC Genoa numbers, the HBM2E package for Sapphire Rapids-SP would end up 5% larger while the standard package will be 22% smaller.

• Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon (Standard Package) - 4446mm2
• Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon (HBM2E Package) - 5700mm2
• AMD EPYC Genoa (12 CCD Package) - 5428mm2

Intel also states that the EMIB link provides twice the bandwidth density improvement and 4 times better power efficiency compared to standard package designs. Interestingly, Intel calls the latest Xeon lineup Logically monolithic which means that they are referring to the interconnect that'll offer the same functionality as a single-die would but technically, there are four chiplets that will be interconnected together. You can read the full details regarding the standard 56 core & 112 thread Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs here.

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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As for the footnotes for the Intel Sapphire Rapids HBM 'Xeon Scalable' CPU performance, you can see them below:

CloverLeaf

• Test by Intel as of 04/26/2022. 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8360Y CPU, 72 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256GB (16x16GB DDR4 3200 MT/s ), SE5C6200.86B.0021.D40.2101090208, Ubuntu 20.04, Kernel 5.10, 0xd0002a0, ifort 2021.5, Intel MPI 2021.5.1, build knobs: -xCORE-AVX512 –qopt-zmm-usage=high
• Test by Intel as of 04/19/22. 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor codenamed Sapphire Rapids Plus HBM, >40 cores, HT ON, Turbo ON, Total Memory 128 GB (HBM2e at 3200 MHz), BIOS Version EGSDCRB1.86B.0077.D11.2203281354, ucode revision=0x83000200, CentOS Stream 8, Linux version 5.16, ifort 2021.5, Intel MPI 2021.5.1, build knobs: -xCORE-AVX512 –qopt-zmm-usage=high

OpenFOAM

• Test by Intel as of 01/26/2022. 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8380 CPU), 80 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256 GB (16x16GB 3200MT/s, Dual-Rank), BIOS Version SE5C6200.86B.0020.P23.2103261309, 0xd000270, Rocky Linux 8.5 , Linux version 4.18., OpenFOAM® v1912, Motorbike 28M @ 250 iterations; Build notes: Tools: Intel Parallel Studio 2020u4, Build knobs: -O3 -ip -xCORE-AVX512
• Test by Intel as of 01/26/2022 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor codenamed Sapphire Rapids Plus HBM, >40 cores, HT Off, Turbo Off, Total Memory 128 GB (HBM2e at 3200 MHz), preproduction platform and BIOS, CentOS 8, Linux version 5.12, OpenFOAM® v1912, Motorbike 28M @ 250 iterations; Build notes: Tools: Intel Parallel Studio 2020u4, Build knobs: -O3 -ip -xCORE-AVX512

WRF

• Test by Intel as of 05/03/2022. 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® 8380 CPU, 80 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256 GB (16x16GB 3200MT/s, Dual-Rank), BIOS Version SE5C6200.86B.0020.P23.2103261309, ucode revision=0xd000270, Rocky Linux 8.5, Linux version 4.18, WRF v4.2.2
• Test by Intel as of 05/03/2022. 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor codenamed Sapphire Rapids Plus HBM, >40 cores, HT ON, Turbo ON, Total Memory 128 GB (HBM2e at 3200 MHz), BIOS Version EGSDCRB1.86B.0077.D11.2203281354, ucode revision=0x83000200, CentOS Stream 8, Linux version 5.16, WRF v4.2.2

YASK

• Test by Intel as of 05/9/2022. 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8360Y CPU, 72 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256GB (16x16GB DDR4 3200 MT/s ), SE5C6200.86B.0021.D40.2101090208, Rocky linux 8.5, kernel 4.18.0, 0xd000270, Build knobs: make -j YK_CXX='mpiicpc -cxx=icpx' arch=avx2 stencil=iso3dfd radius=8,
• Test by Intel as of 05/03/22. 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor codenamed Sapphire Rapids Plus HBM, >40 cores, HT ON, Turbo ON, Total Memory 128 GB (HBM2e at 3200 MHz), BIOS Version EGSDCRB1.86B.0077.D11.2203281354, ucode revision=0x83000200, CentOS Stream 8, Linux version 5.16, Build knobs: make -j YK_CXX='mpiicpc -cxx=icpx' arch=avx2 stencil=iso3dfd radius=8,

Ansys Fluent

• Test by Intel as of 2/2022 1-node, 2x Intel ® Xeon ® Platinum 8380 CPU, 80 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256 GB (16x16GB 3200MT/s, Dual-Rank), BIOS Version SE5C6200.86B.0020.P23.2103261309, ucode revision=0xd000270, Rocky Linux 8.5 , Linux version 4.18, Ansys Fluent 2021 R2 Aircraft_wing_14m; Build notes: Commercial release using Intel 19.3 compiler and Intel MPI 2019u
• Test by Intel as of 2/2022 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor code names Sapphire Rapids with HBM, >40 cores, HT Off, Turbo Off, Total Memory 128 GB (HBM2e at 3200 MHz), preproduction platform and BIOS, CentOS 8, Linux version 5.12, Ansys Fluent 2021 R2 Aircraft_wing_14m; Build notes: Commercial release using Intel 19.3 compiler and Intel MPI 2019u8

Ansys ParSeNet

• Test by Intel as of 05/24/2022. 1-node, 2x Intel® Xeon® Platinum 8380 CPU, 80 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 256GB (16x16GB DDR4 3200 MT/s [3200 MT/s]), SE5C6200.86B.0021.D40.2101090208, Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS, 5.10, ParSeNet (SplineNet), PyTorch 1.11.0, Torch-CCL 1.2.0, IPEX 1.10.0, MKL (2021.4-Product Build 20210904), oneDNN (v2.5.0)
• Test by Intel as of 04/18/2022. 1-node, 2x Pre-production Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor codenamed Sapphire Rapids Plus HBM, 112 cores, HT On, Turbo On, Total Memory 128GB (HBM2e 3200 MT/s), EGSDCRB1.86B.0077.D11.2203281354, CentOS Stream 8, 5.16, ParSeNet (SplineNet), PyTorch 1.11.0, Torch-CCL 1.2.0, IPEX 1.10.0, MKL (2021.4-Product Build 20210904), oneDNN (v2.5.0)

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