Intel Clearwater Forest E-Core Only Xeon CPUs To Offer Up To 288 Cores: Updated Skymont Cores With Higher IPC, More Cache-February 2024-www.yitit.com

Intel's 2nd Gen E-Core Only Xeon CPUs, codenamed Clearwater Forest, are expected to feature up to 288 cores with updated architecture.

Intel 2nd Gen E-Core Only Xeon "Clearwater Forest" CPUs Pack Up To 288 Cores With Improved Architecture

The latest information comes from Bionic_Squash who keeps the tab on the latest developments on Intel's upcoming chips. According to the newest post, it looks like we are getting an early taste of what to expect from Intel's 2nd Gen Xeon family based on the E-Core CPU architecture. The first E-Core-only family, codenamed Sierra Forest, is yet to launch with a planned release for mid-2024 so based on how early this information is, things could change as we get closer to the 2025 launch of Clearwater Forest.

Core count comparison:

SRF-SP < CWF-SP

SRF-AP = CWF-AP

— Bionic_Squash (@SquashBionic) December 1, 2023

With that said, it looks like Intel's Clearwater Forest will utilize an updated version of the Skymont E-Core architecture. This would be the fifth Gen E-Core architecture with Gracemonth being the first which made its debut on Alder Lake and was later reused in Raptor Lake CPUs, Crestmont which is going to debut in the upcoming Meteor Lake CPUs, and Sierra Glen which will debut with Sierra Forest chips.

As for Sierra Glen (for Sierra Forest), the E-Core architecture feels a lot similar to Crestmont with slight modifications which itself is very similar to Gracemont with some changes here and there as explained in this article. In Clearwater Forest, we will see an optimized version of Skymont cores from the looks of it. This is the same E-Core CPU architecture that will be utilized by Lunar Lake and Panther Lake by 2025.

The cores in SRF are slightly modified version of Crestmont

— Bionic_Squash (@SquashBionic) December 1, 2023

IPC uplift should be pretty decent, there's also pretty big L3 cache increase on CWF

— Bionic_Squash (@SquashBionic) December 1, 2023

The Clearwater Forest Xeon CPUs utilizing the Skymont architecture are said to offer up to 288 cores which is the exact same (Max) core count as the Sierra Forest chips. The difference is that the Clearwater Forest-SP chips will offer more cores than Sierra Forest-SP (144 cores) while the Clearwater Forest-AP chips will peak out at the same 288 core count as Sierra Forest-AP. The IPC is also said to receive a decent uplift and one major improvement for Clearwater Forest is going to be much bigger L3 caches similar to what we've seen on the 5th Gen Emerald Rapids P-Core family.

The Intel Clearwater Forest Xeon CPUs featuring the new and updated E-Core architecture will debut in 2025 and utilize the 18A process node.

Intel Xeon CPU Families (Preliminary):

Family Branding	Diamond Rapids	Clearwater Forest	Granite Rapids	Sierra Forest	Emerald Rapids	Sapphire Rapids	Ice Lake-SP	Cooper Lake-SP	Cascade Lake-SP/AP	Skylake-SP
Process Node	Intel 20A?	Intel 18A	Intel 3	Intel 3	Intel 7	Intel 7	10nm+	14nm++	14nm++	14nm+
Platform Name	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Mountain Stream Intel Birch Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Eagle Stream	Intel Whitley	Intel Cedar Island	Intel Purley	Intel Purley
Core Architecture	Lion Cove?	Crestmont+	Redwood Cove	Sierra Glen	Raptor Cove	Golden Cove	Sunny Cove	Cascade Lake	Cascade Lake	Skylake
MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs	Yes	TBD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Socket	LGA 4677 / 7529	LGA 4677 / 7529	LGA 4677 / 7529	LGA 4677 / 7529	LGA 4677	LGA 4677	LGA 4189	LGA 4189	LGA 3647	LGA 3647
Max Core Count	Up To 144?	Up To 288	Up To 136?	Up To 288	Up To 64?	Up To 56	Up To 40	Up To 28	Up To 28	Up To 28
Max Thread Count	Up To 288?	Up To 288	Up To 272?	Up To 288	Up To 128	Up To 112	Up To 80	Up To 56	Up To 56	Up To 56
Max L3 Cache	TBD	TBD	TBD	108 MB L3	320 MB L3	105 MB L3	60 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3	38.5 MB L3
Memory Support	Up To 12-Channel DDR6-7200?	TBD	Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-6400?	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-5600	Up To 8-Channel DDR5-4800	Up To 8-Channel DDR4-3200	Up To 6-Channel DDR4-3200	DDR4-2933 6-Channel	DDR4-2666 6-Channel
PCIe Gen Support	PCIe 6.0 (128 Lanes)?	TBD	PCIe 5.0 (136 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (TBD Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 Lanes)	PCIe 5.0 (80 lanes)	PCIe 4.0 (64 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)	PCIe 3.0 (48 Lanes)
TDP Range (PL1)	Up To 500W?	TBD	Up To 500W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	Up To 350W	105-270W	150W-250W	165W-205W	140W-205W
3D Xpoint Optane DIMM	Donahue Pass?	TBD	Donahue Pass	TBD	Crow Pass	Crow Pass	Barlow Pass	Barlow Pass	Apache Pass	N/A
Competition	AMD EPYC Venice	AMD EPYC Zen 5C	AMD EPYC Turin	AMD EPYC Bergamo	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Genoa ~5nm	AMD EPYC Milan 7nm+	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Rome 7nm	AMD EPYC Naples 14nm
Launch	2025?	2025	2024	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2018	2017