Intel introduces ’tiled’ Xeon processors with up to 60 cores and HBM

Intel will introduce a flood of server processors on Tuesday: no fewer than 52 models. The top model has 60 cores, spread over four tiles, while the new Xeon Max series has onboard HBM. In addition, the Ponte Vecchio video card will be available.

Finally Sapphire Rapids

The new CPUs have the official marketing name 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, but until now were better known under the code name Sapphire Rapids. They follow the Cooper and Ice Lake chips introduced in 2020. Sapphire Rapids was originally supposed to be released last year, but problems with the Intel 7 production process led to a postponement.

All new Xeons exclusively use P-cores, which in terms of architecture correspond to the Raptor Cove cores in the thirteenth generation of Core processors. The chips have an octachannel DDR5 memory controller and have 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes. In addition, four CXL 1.1 devices can be connected, for example accelerators. In terms of type of connectivity, the processors are comparable to AMD’s latest Epyc Genoa processors.

Three dies: XCC, MCC and Max

Under the heat spreader of the new Xeons there is always an XCC, MCC or Max die. The XCC consists of four separately produced tiles, connected to each other via Intel’s 2.5D packaging technology EMib. An optimized mesh structure, which Intel has dubbed MDF, is used for mutual communication. Judging from the shared schematics, there are 64 cores in the XCC chip, but only a maximum of 60 of them are enabled. The Max-die is a variant of the XCC-die with 64GB of HBM2e memory, while the MCC-die is a monolithic chip with up to 32 active cores.

Accelerators for a fee

During the release event, Intel mainly emphasized the presence of numerous built-in accelerators that can speed up specific tasks, such as deep learning, encryption and network traffic. Not all models have all types of accelerators and extensions as standard. With Intel On Demand, a form of software-defined silicon, they can still be activated after purchase, for a fee of course.

Intel has not presented any benchmarks for comparison with AMD’s latest Epyc CPUs, saying because it could not yet obtain them. The new Xeons have suggested retail prices between $415 and $17,000. The Xeon Platinum versions can handle up to eight sockets per system.

Data Center GPU Max: Ponte Vecchio

At the same time as the new Xeons, the Ponte Vecchio video card will finally become available, which Intel already presented extensively in 2021. This GPU consists of no fewer than 47 tiles, made using five different production processes from TSMC and Intel itself. They are connected via emib.

Three versions will be available, of which the GPU Max 1100 is most recognizable as a video card. This PCIe card has a TDP of 300W. The GPU Max 1350 and 1550 are packaged in the OAM form factor, a standard developed and open sourced by Meta, and have TDPs of 450 and 600W respectively. Finally, complete ‘subsystems’ are also available, which combine four of those OAM modules with a TDP of 1800 to 2400W.