Intel's new server CPU generation Sapphire Rapids is still stuck in traffic. Still, there are already new hints of the post-post successor Diamond Rapids, which is expected sometime after 2025. These Xeon processors will support PCIe 6.0 and CXL 3.0 for the first time.
This glimpse into the very distant future of Intel's Xeon family is provided by Twitter user @yuuki_ans, who has often provided authentic information before. The small excerpt from a presentation slide of unknown origin says that there will again be an option for HBM memory, DDR5 RAM will continue to be supported on eight channels. The innovations on the interface side are PCIe 6.0 with throughput that has been doubled compared to PCIe 5.0 and the Compute Express Link in the new revision CXL 3.0, which is also based on PCIe 6.0.
8-way SapphireRapids Server
（Launched in the Q3 of next year）
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5 6 1 2 7 8 3 4（4）🧵& #13;1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8（4）🧵
【This 8-way interconnection is actually in two 4-way machines …】
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The connection is a bit like Omni -Path……?
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（It should be all specifications of SPR …） pic.twitter.com/353RrYYagr—结城安穗-YuuKi_AnS🍥 (@yuuki_ans) October 13, 2022
With PCIe 6.0, the maximum data rate per lane increases from 32 GT/s with PCIe 5.0 to 64 GT/s. Instead of binary signal technology, a four-stage pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-4) is used for the first time. With a full connection with 16 lanes, the throughput increases to 128 GB/s or 256 GB/s in dual simplex operation.
Version 1.0 of the specifications for PCIe 6.0 was published earlier this year. But experience has shown that it takes a few years for the first products to appear. Given the frequent shifts in Intel's schedules, it's unlikely that Diamond Rapids will make it to 2025.
First of all, Sapphire Rapids should appear later this year. However, only small showcase quantities can be assumed, so that the actual market launch will not take place until 2023. For example, according to @yuuki_ans, the 8-socket Xeon servers for Sapphire Rapids will not be released until the third quarter of 2023. This could also delay the successors Emerald Rapids, Granite Rapids and ultimately Diamond Rapids.
In Sapphire Rapids and probably also Emerald Rapids, Intel will be ahead in terms of number of the CPU cores did not increase significantly and thus hardly reduced the large gap to AMD Epyc. Only with Granite Rapids and then probably its successor is it expected that Intel will break the 100-core mark.
AMD already wants in Increasing the shortness of Genoa to 96 cores and likely to be followed by Bergamo next year with 128 cores. When AMD will switch to PCIe 6.0 is still in the stars.