Intel has launched their latest server grade Xeon CPU family based on the Skylake-SP microarchitecture. The family features four subcategories: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, with the latter including the most powerful and pricey models.
The Xeon Platinum 8180 is manufactured with 14 nm lithography and features 28 cores / 56 threads. Base frequency is set at 2.50 GHz, but the CPU can run at 3.8 GHz in Turbo mode. Being a server-grade CPU, the 8180 model integrates an astounding 38.5 MB L3 cache memory, plus 3 Ultra Path Interconnect links for increased performance for multi-CPU setups. Even with all these impressive features, the TDP is still kept at 205 W.
As far as memory requirements are concerned, the Platinum 8180 CPU supports a maximum of 768 GB of DDR4-2666 RAM. The CPU also supports PCI-E Rev 3.0 and integrates 48 PCI-E lanes. It also requires special motherboards that are built around the FCLGA3647 socket.
Price-wise, the Xeon Platinum 8180 is clearly the most expensive CPU ever produced by Intel with an MSRP of $10,000, but actual prices from re-sellers can creep up to $13,000.