Intel Xeon Roadmap Leaked Out, Unveils 10nm Ice Lake-SP With PCIe Gen 4 & Up To 26 Cores in 2020, Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids With PCIe Gen 5 & DDR5 in 2021-February 2024-www.yitit.com

The latest Intel Xeon roadmap for next-generation server processors and their respective platform has been leaked by WikiChip (via Momomo_US). The roadmap gives us a highlight of the major features to expect from Intel's upcoming server families including the 10nm Ice Lake-SP, Sapphire Rapids-SP, and the Granite Rapids-SP series.

Intel Xeon Roadmap Unveils 10nm Ice Lake-SP With PCIe Gen 4 in 2020, Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids-SP and Granite Rapids-SP To Feature Octal-Channel DDR5 Memory and PCIe Gen 5 Support

Intel officially announced their latest process technology roadmap at their 2019 investor meeting where they confirmed next-generation 10nm product families for the datacenter & server market. During the meeting, Intel confirmed in their public roadmap that they will launch the 14nm Cooper Lake-SP and 10nm Ice Lake-SP lineup in 2020, Sapphire Rapids-SP in 2021 & then, a next-gen Xeon family in 2022. The latest roadmap leak confirms all of these and also provides additional highlight at some of the main features that the upcoming Xeon families would support.

Intel Xeon CPU Roadmap, 10nm Ice Lake, Sapphire Rapids, Granite Rapids

Intel 14nm Cooper Lake-SP With Up To 48 Cores, PCIe Gen 3 and 8 Channel DDR4 in Q1 2020

The roadmap itself is said to be a part of Intel's partner program and includes some main details of each upcoming Xeon family. We start off with the 14nm Cooper Lake-SP family which will be part of the Whitley Platform and feature up to 48 cores (Cooper Lake-AP), 8 channel DDR4 memory and PCIe Gen 3 support. The latest Barlow Pass Optane DIMMs would also be compatible on Whitley so we should expect a good boost in performance. Cooper Lake will also be available for 4S and 8S servers with up to 26 core Xeon CPU configurations, 6 channel DDR4 memory support and PCIe 3.0 support.

Intel Xeon CPU Roadmap, 10nm Ice Lake, Sapphire Rapids, Granite Rapids

Intel 10nm+ Ice Lake-SP With Up To 26 Cores, PCIe Gen 4 and 8 Channel DDR4 in Q2 2020

Intel Ice Lake-SP processors would be available around the second quarter of 2020 and will feature the 10nm process node. The chips will have up to 26 cores and support 8 channel DDR4 memory. The main highlight of Ice Lake-SP processors would be support for PCIe Gen 4 which is coming to AMD's EPYC Rome processors this year in Q3 2019. Ice Lake-SP processors would be based on the brand new Sunny Cove core architecture which is expected to deliver double-digit IPC gains and a much-needed increase in overall efficiency.

One thing to note is that Intel's 10nm for 2020 is an enhanced node of the original 10nm node that will launch this year. It's marked as 10nm+ and that is specifically what the Ice Lake-SP Xeon line will make use of. Some of the major upgrades that 10nm will deliver include:

2.7x density scaling vs 14nmSelf-aligned Quad-PatterningContact Over Active GateCobalt Interconnect (M0, M1)1st Gen Foveros 3D Stacking2nd Gen EMIB

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

Intel 10nm++ Sapphire Rapids-SP With PCIe Gen 5 and 8 Channel DDR5 Support in Q1 2021, 7nm Granite Rapids-SP in 2022

Moving further into the post-2020 Xeon lineup, Intel will be launching Sapphire Rapids-SP in 2021 and Granite Rapids-SP in 2022. The 10nm++ based Sapphire Rapids is expected to make use of the updated Willow Cove core architecture which replaces Sunny Cove in 2020. The Sapphire Rapids lineup will make use of 8 channel DDR5 memory and support PCIe Gen 5.0 on the Eagle Stream platform. This will allow Intel to match up or even outpace AMD's EPYC offerings if Milan will end up reusing DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4 from the upcoming EPYC Rome platform. That remains to be seen.

Intel's Sapphire Rapids family will be launching the same year that Intel introduces their first datacenter Xe GPUs based on the 7nm process node. The first confirmed product to feature the 7nm datacenter Xe GPUs will be the Aurora supercomputer, more on that here. The new Xe architecture based GP-GPU will be built using Foveros 3D stacking architecture which means we are going to see a one-chip, single-stacked-chip harmony between the GPU, memory and interconnect.

This will allow High-Bandwidth memory to be stacked right on top of the GPU die, featuring a package size that is much smaller than existing GPUs but at the same time, denser than anything we have got so far.

Later in 2022, Intel will launch Granite Rapids-SP which will further expand upon the DNA of Sapphire Rapids and possibly make use of the 7nm process node. The process roadmap shows that Intel will have 7nm+ ready for deployment in 2022 along with their Golden Cove chip core architecture. It remains to be seen what kind of core count we should expect from Intel's Rapid series of Xeon families, but one thing that's confirmed is that Intel is speeding up the pace for their Xeon lineup as competition from AMD has risen. We will keep you updated as we hear more info around the Intel Xeon lineup.