Intel confirms that Sapphire Rapids will support DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 – Ice Lake Xeons feature detailed
Intel confirms that Sapphire Rapids will support DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 – Ice Lake Xeon features detailed
For starters, Intel’s Ice Lake Xeon Scalable processors are “targetted for the end of 2020”, offering users “significant performance in both throughput and responsiveness across workloads”. This will be Intel’s first Xeon architecture to support PCIe 4.0, and it will also offer users eight memory channels, instruction set enhancements and faster cryptography performance. Ice Lake will also support eight-channel memory.
In the second half of 2021, Intel plans to start “initial production shipments” of Sapphire Rapids, Intel’s next-generation Xeon Scalable processor. It is due to power the Aurora Exascale supercomputer system at Argonne National Lab, and bring with it PCIe 5.0 support as well as DDR5 memory support.
Thanks to Intel’s SuperFin 10nm technology, Intel plans to deliver its customers a significant performance and efficiency boost over its existing CPU offerings. This enhanced 10nm node will allow Intel to release processors with higher clock speeds, and operate at lower voltages. When combined with DDR5 memory support and PCIe 5.0 compatibility, Sapphire Rapids will deliver Intel some major performance benefits across a wide range of workloads.
Compute Express Link 1.1 support is also planned for Sapphire Rapids, as well as support for a new AI accelerator that’s designed to handle Advanced Matrix Extensions.
In 2021, Intel plans to release processors with PCIe 5.0 support and DDR5 memory support. This the move, Intel hopes to leapfrog AMD’s EPYC lineup. That said, by the end of 2021, AMD will be preparing to move to Zen 4, and TSMC’s 5nm lithography node. Will 10nm SuperFin be enough for Intel to surpass AMD’s future offerings?
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