Intel presents new 56-core Xeon Platinum server-grade CPUs
Last month, AMD claimed that its 7 nm EPYC CPUs will enable the company to secure over 10% of the server-grade processor market by 2020. Judging by how well the chip giant has been doing in the past few years ever since the Zen architecture was introduced to the masses, AMD’s plans to chip away at Intel’s position on the server market are as realistic as they can get, especially at a time when Intel is dealing with production issues. Of course, Intel is not willing to giving up that easily, as the company just announced the new Cascade Lake server CPUs with up to 56 cores and 112 threads.
In 2018, the Cascade Lake CPUs were all set up to launch with up to 48-cores, but it looks like AMD’s announcement of the 64-core EPYC CPUs led Intel to up the core count to 56. Thus, the latest Xeon Platinum 9200 series targets compute-oriented servers and introduces four new models that feature a dual-die package. Here is a spec list for each of the chips:
• Platinum 9282: 56 cores / 112 threads, 2.6 GHz base frequency (3.8 GHz boost), 77 MB L3 cache, 400 W TDP
• Platinum 9242: 48 cores / 96 threads, 2.3 GHz base frequency (3.8 GHz turbo), 71.5 MB L3 cache, 350 W TDP
• Platinum 9222: 32 cores / 64 threads, 2.3 GHz base frequency (3.7 GHz turbo), 71.5 MB L3 cache, 250 W TDP
• Platinum 9221: 32 cores / 64 threads, 2.1 GHz base frequency (3.7 GHz turbo), 71.5 MB L3 cache, 250 W TDP
All models support 12 memory channels for up to 1.5 TB of DDR4-2933 RAM and 40 PCIe Gen 3 lanes per chip, plus clients can set up 2-socket nodes that essentially emulate a quad-CPU system. As part of the new Xeon Scalable line-up, the Xeon Platinum 9200 CPUs also support 4.5 TB Optane storage per CPU, and Intel added hardware fixes for Variant 2/3/3a/4/L1TF Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilities.
Prices for these models will not be made public since the processors are BGA-only and will be sold directly to select OEMs in 2U quad-blade configurations. These new server blades will start shipping in Q2 2019.
