from Intel Next-Gen Granite Rapids-AP “Xeon 6900P” CPUs will feature some impressive specs with up to 128 P-Cores and over 500MB of cache.
Intel Granite Rapids-AP “Xeon 6900P” CPUs Will Have Up to 128 Cores, Full Lineup Leak Shows Blue Team Will Reach Core Count Parity With AMD’s EPYC After 7 Years
At Computex, Intel announced its next-generation Xeon 6 lineup, available in two configurations: the Xeon 6P based on the P-Core architecture and the Xeon 6E based on the E-Core architecture.
The families are further segmented into four distinct lines that include Xeon 6700P with up to 86 cores, Xeon 6900P with up to 128 cores, Xeon 6700E with up to 144 cores and Xeon 6900E with up to 288 cores. Xeon 6700E CPUs are now launched and shipping with the Xeon 6900P being next in line for launch this quarter. The rest of the families, Xeon 6700P and Xeon 6900E, will launch in Q1 2025.
Intel is launching its high-end Xeon 6900P “Granite Rapids-AP” CPU family first to take on AMD’s upcoming Turin lineup, which will launch in the second half of 2024 as well. Both chips have one thing in common: a maximum core count of 128 cores. Unlike the Xeon 6E family, which relies on E-Cores, the Xeon 6P CPUs will feature the Redwood Cove core architecture. These new P-cores will compete directly with AMD’s Zen 5 core architecture in its Turin family.
Further detailing the lineup, leaker @JaykihnIntel Corp. has shared configurations of five Intel Granite Rapids-AP “Xeon 6900P” SKUs that include the flagship Xeon Platinum 6980P, followed by the 6979P, 6972P, 6952P, and 6960P. These chips come in 128-, 120-, 96-, and 72-core configurations and feature plenty of cache. Base clocks scale from 2 GHz on the flagship and 2.7 GHz on the entry-level 72-core SKU, and TDPs range from 400 W to 500 W.
Intel Granite Rapids “Xeon 6900P” CPU SKUs (Source: @jaykihn):
| CPU Names | Cores / Threads | Base clock | LLC | TDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xeon 6980P | 128 / 256 | 2.0 GHz | 504 MB | 500 W |
| Xeon 6979P | 120 / 240 | 2.1 GHz | 504 MB | 500 W |
| Xeon 6972P | 96 / 192 | 2.4 GHz | 480 MB | 500 W |
| Xeon 6952P | 96 / 192 | 2.1 GHz | 480 MB | 400 W |
| Xeon 6960P | 72 / 144 | 2.7 GHz | 432 MB | 500 W |
These chips are also claimed to have over 500MB of cache (LLC), which is comparable to AMD’s EPYC Turin with 512MB of LLC. Intel Redwood Cove also has 2MB of L2 cache per core, which is an additional 256MB of cache, which forms a pool of over 750MB of cache. larger than the 650MB pool cache of the Turin Zen 5 family. AMD will have improved versions of 3D V-Cache with much higher cache counts, but it looks like Intel finally has a product that will compete with AMD with core count parity and cache count leadership.
These chips will be easy to compare against each other on performance, value, and efficiency numbers, which will decide which is the ultimate data center champion. Other key aspects of the Intel Xeon 6P lineup include support for up to 12-channel memory, speeds up to DDR5-6400 and MCR-8800 MT/s, up to 96 PCIe Gen 5.0/CXL 2.0 lanes, and up to 6 UPI 2.0 links. The Xeon 6900P CPUs can also be configured in up to 2S platforms for up to 256 cores and 512 threads, while the Xeon 6700P CPUs will be supported in 8S platforms for up to 688 cores and 1376 threads, offering insane densities.
Comparison between next-gen Intel Xeon CPU and AMD EPYC (preliminary):
| CPU Name | Process Node / Architecture | Cores / Threads (Max.) | Cache (Max.) | DDR Memory / Speed / Capacities (Max.) | Memory channels (max.) | PCIe Gen/Lanes (Max.) | TDPs | Platform | To throw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD EPYC Venice | 3nm? / Zen 6 | 192 / 384? | To be defined | DDR5-6400? | 16 channels? | PCIe Gen 6.0 / TBA? | To be defined | SP7 | 2026 |
| Intel Diamond Rapids | Intel 3 / Lion’s Cove? | To be defined | To be defined | To be defined | 16 channels? | PCIe Gen 6.0? / To be defined | Up to 425 W | Birch Creek | 2025 |
| Intel Clearwater Forest | Intel 18A / Darkmont | 288 / 288 | To be defined | To be defined | 12 channels? | PCIe Gen 5.0? / To be defined | To be defined | Birch Creek | 2025 |
| AMD EPYC Turin Denso | 3nm / Zen 5C | 192 / 384 | 384 MB L3 | DDR5-6000? | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / TBA | Up to 600 W | SP5 | 2025 |
| AMD EPYC Turin | 3nm / Zen 5 | 128 / 256 | 512MB L3 | DDR5-6000? | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / TBA | Up to 600 W | SP5 | 2024 |
| Intel Granite Rapids | Intel 3 / Redwood Cove | 128 / 256 | 504MB L3? | DDR5-6400 / MCR-8800 | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 136 | Up to 500 W | Birch Creek | 2024 |
| Intel Sierra Forest | Intel 3 / Sierra Glen | 288 / 288 | 360 MB L3 | DDR5-6400 | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 96 | Up to 500 W | Birch Creek | 2024 |
| AMD EPYC Bergamo | 5nm / Zen 4C | 128 / 256 | 256MB L3 | DDR5-4800 | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 128 | Up to 400 W | SP5 | 2023 |
| Intel Emerald Rapids | Intel 7 / Raptor Cove | 64 / 128 | 320 MB L3 | DDR5-5200 | 8 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 80 | Up to 375 W | Eagle Creek | 2023 |
| Intel Sapphire Rapids | Intel 7 / Golden Cove | 60 / 120 | 112.5 MB L3 | DDR5-4800 | 8 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 80 | Up to 350 W | Eagle Creek | 2023 |
| AMD EPYC Genoa | 5nm / Zen 4 | 96 / 192 | 384 MB L3 | DDR5-4800 | 12 channels | PCIe Gen 5.0 / 128 | Up to 400 W | SP5 | 2022 |