“Intel stops with Core-X CPUs, releases Sapphire Rapids as Xeon Workstation”
Intel is rumored to be discontinuing the Core X naming convention for its high-end desktop CPUs. Instead, the upcoming Sapphire Rapids CPUs may be released as Xeon Workstation processors. The chips may appear in the second half of 2022.
The rumor comes from Moore’s Law is Dead, who are more likely to share information about Intel. Sources from this YouTube user report that Intel is not planning a direct successor to the current Intel Cascade Lake-X-hedt CPUs and the associated X299 platform.
Instead, the company is said to be working on a “spiritual successor” to Cascade Lake, which will be based on Intel’s forthcoming Sapphire Rapids server platform. The Core-X brand name will be replaced by Xeon-W. That’s consistent with a previously leaked roadmap showing that Intel’s upcoming hedt processors will use a W790 chipset for workstations, rather than an X-prefixed chipset, as is common.
Source: Moore’s Law is Dead via YouTube
Sapphire Rapids: ‘two workstation segments’
The YouTube user further reports that Sapphire Rapids is being split into two workstation segments. For example, Intel should release a successor to the current Ice Lake-X Xeon CPUs. Those variants would have a maximum of 56 cores with clock speeds above 4GHz, eight DDR5 memory channels and 112 PCIe 5.0 lanes. Intel’s current test chips would have a tdp of 350W, although this may be different for the release models.
The ‘spiritual successor’ to Cascade Lake-X will be positioned lower and should be aimed at more mainstream workstations. According to Moore’s Law is Dead, these chips will have 64 PCIe 5.0 lanes and eight or four DDR5 memory channels. It has not yet been concretely confirmed how many cores the chips will get, but Intel is expected to release variants with a maximum of 28 to 36 cores. The highest-ranking Xeon Workstation models should furthermore have a TDP of 270 to 400W, although the current test chips have a TDP of less than 300W.
Intel’s hedt plans have not yet been officially confirmed and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Intel itself has given several details about its upcoming Sapphire Rapids CPUs, but focuses exclusively on the variants intended for data centers and supercomputers. The company has not yet shared any details about possible consumer variants for workstations and hed. Sapphire Rapids workstation processors are expected in the third or fourth quarter of 2022. No concrete release date has been announced yet.