Intel is set to challenge AMD at every price point (and core count) with its upcoming Xeon Granite Rapids processors. Unlike Sapphire and Emerald, Granite Rapids will mark the return of the “Accelerated Performance (AP)” branding. First seen with Cascade Lake, these SoCs featured two compute dies glued together on a BGA-5903 substrate. This doubled the core count from 28 to 56 and was largely an ill-prepared response to AMD’s 64-core Epyc “Rome” processors.
The Granite Rapids-AP lineup will do something similar, offering up to 128 cores based on the Redwood Cove “P” architecture. Intel rolled out its first modular design with Sapphire Rapids in 2023, which was consolidated by Emerald Rapids the same year. However, AMD still holds a core advantage with 96 cores on Epyc “Genoa” versus just 64 on the latter.
Granite Rapids-AP is expected to double that number to 128, catching up to AMD Epyc offerings for the first time. The easiest way to produce these chips would involve increasing the die counts. This reduces manufacturing complexity and production costs. The L3 cache should go as high as 768MB and the TDP to 500W. Granite Rapids-AP will leverage the LGA7592 socket and adopt the Xeon 6 69xxP branding.
The top-end Granite Rapids-SP part will feature 56 cores and 112 threads, backed by 288MB of L3 cache. Its base clock will range from 1.5GHz to 2.60GHz, with a 350W TDP. The Xeon-SP lineup will leverage the LGA4710 socket and the Beechnut platform.
Sierra Forest-SP (LGA4710) and AP (LGA7592) will leverage the sockets as their Granite Rapids counterparts. The former will pack up to 144 cores and 108MB of L3 cache, while the latter will double it to 288 cores and 216MB of L3 cache. This will be done by doubling the compute dies (already confirmed). The power budget of these chips will be similar to Granite, starting at 250W for Sierra Forest-SP and topping out at 500W for AP.
The Sierra Forest lineup will leverage the Sierra Glen core architecture, a cloud-optimized variant of Crestmont. The SP SKUs will adopt the Xeon 6 67xxE branding. These variants will land later this year, while AP will launch in 2025.
Source: YuuKi_AnS on X.
Previous coverage on Granite and Sierra:
