Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon ES CPU Benchmarked Against AMD’s EPYC 7773X Milan-X Chips In Cache & Memory Tests

Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP is expected to launch later this year but we have seen several Xeon CPUs leak in various benchmarks. The latest benchmarks compare the cache and memory performance of the Xeon chips against AMD's Milan-X parts.

Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon vs AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X Server CPUs: Benchmarks Leak In Cache & Memory Tests

Update: The leaker has posted a new V-Ray and Cinebench benchmarks too comparing the three server chips against each other.

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— 结城安穗-YuuKi_AnS (@yuuki_ans) February 12, 2022

The latest benchmarks of the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon & AMD EPYC Milan-X CPUs have been leaked by YuuKi_AnS. The leaker was the first to get his hands on engineering samples of the Xeon Sapphire Rapids-SP lineup and the latest chip he got is a 48 core part with 96 threads, a 270W TDP, and clock speeds of 2.30 GHz base and 3.30 GHz boost. The CPU rocks 90 MB of L3 cache while the single-core boost frequency is rated at 3.60 GHz. The CPU is an ES chip with QSPEC of 'QYFQ' and is a D0 revision.

This variant sits right below the flagship part which has a 1.6 GHz base clock and boosts a clock of 3.6 GHz across a single core. The flagship Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU will feature 56 cores, 112 threads, a 105 MB L3 cache, and a 350W TDP. The CPU was tested in a dual-socket config with 96 cores and 192 threads which were compared to Intel's Xeon Platinum 8380 (Ice Lake-SP) and the AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X CPUs, both of which were also running a dual-socket configuration.

AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X CPUs rock 64 cores and 128 thread and were configured with DDR4-2866 memory. The memory type for the Ice Lake-SP and Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs isn't mentioned but the former should feature DDR4-3200 support while the latter comes with DDR5-4800 support.

As for the benchmarks, the chips were tested in the AIDA64 Cache & Memory benchmark. With an 8-channel interface, the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPUs show vastly superior memory & also latency performance over both AMD's EPYC Milan-X and Intel's Ice Lake-SP chips . The CPU cache latency is also looking great but Milan-X does manage to take the crown in the L3 cache tests. The EPYC Milan-X CPUs do get a slight hit to the overall latency but the overall performance is better as mentioned here.

Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon vs AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X CPU Benchmarks (Image Credits: YuuKi_AnS):

Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon vs AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X Cinebench Benchmarks (Image Credits: YuuKi_AnS):

The Cinebench R15 benchmarks show that the Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU is up to 9% faster and while it does have 22.5% extra cores, these cores are clocked at a much lower clock speed of 1.50 GHz versus the 2.30 GHz of the Ice Lake-SP parts. The ES chip is not that far behind the AMD EPYC 7773X Milan-X chips and the final version could definitely end up faster. In single-core tests, the Sapphire Rapids-SP chip outperforms the Milan-X CPU by 26% despite the clock advantage going to AMD.

While Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU looks quite good in these benchmarks, especially in ES state, we have to remember that the lineup will be competing against AMD's EPYC Genoa by the time it launches and not EPYC Milan-X so team red would still have a major advantage over team blue.

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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