The “workstation” is an elastic term and the offer at Intel looks accordingly. At the top there is the dual Xeon, which differs little or not at all from the real CPUs for the server environment. But the diversity in this area is not quite as great. Corresponding models are also available for Sapphire Rapids-SP.
The two-socket workstation is the showpiece in Intel's portfolio. There are many parallels to a small server, after all these solutions are also based on the Eagle Stream Platform. This platform has been planned for many years and is now long delayed, which is why it also has some legacy issues. This includes a lot of PCIe 3.0, including from the CPUs to the chipset, but also from the chipset itself, which does not offer PCIe 4.0.
One of the noticeable differences compared to a server is the Memory support: In workstations there is only a maximum of 4 TB per CPU over eight channels, the third generation Optane PMem, codename Crow Pass, is left out.
As in the classic Xeon family for servers, the CPU portfolio starts at the top with the Platinum series, followed by Gold, Silver and Bronze. With a few exceptions, the model range should also be found entirely in the server area. A look at the technical details shows the already known and possible specifications. The flagship in the workstation has 56 cores and 112 threads – in the server this is done by the Xeon Platinum 8490H with 60 cores – there, on the other hand, the maximum L3 cache expansion of 105 MB is also offered with CPUs with only 40 active cores.< /p>
A few smaller solutions, some with only eight cores, but with the full number of PCIe lanes, also stand out. Here the intended use should be found, for example, for storage solutions, combined 160 PCI 5.0 lanes in a dual-socket system and additional PCIe lanes from the C741 chipset leave room for development.
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Intel Sapphire Rapids SP for 2-socket workstations (Image: Twitter)
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Intel Sapphire Rapids SP for 2-socket workstations (Image: Twitter)
Fjd2vw0UUAEj-XeIntel Sapphire Rapids SP for 2-socket workstations (Image: Twitter)
Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP for 2-socket workstations (Image: Twitter)Smaller workstations with more modern Platform
The data for the smaller workstations had already leaked out yesterday. Here it is always limited to one processor socket, but the more modern chipset, the division of the CPUs also separates the expert segment from entry-level and mainstream. It is precisely from this area that Intel could also draw models that are suitable for a high-end desktop, although the name Core X is no longer used, only Xeon.
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Intel Xeon W-3400 aka Sapphire Rapids-112L (Image: Twitter)
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Intel Xeon W-3400 aka Sapphire Rapids-112L (Image: Twitter)
Intel Xeon W-2400 aka Sapphire Rapids-64L (Image: Twitter)
Intel Xeon W-2400 aka Sapphire Rapids-64L (Image: Twitter)
Intel Core X is dead (Image: Twitter)There is this and much more for servers
Ultimately only a fraction of the CPUs that Intel will place in many different markets are offered for workstations. This will again lead to an almost opaque portfolio of solutions. Diverse letters and combinations are intended to help with sorting and selection, but as in the past, they will only do so to a limited extent. In the end there should be well over 50 models, Ice Lake-SP has already cracked this mark easily, and that without the custom solutions and off-roadmap chips that also exist.
Which abbreviation stands for what on the Xeon? (Image: Twitter)