Intel Diamond Rapids "Xeon 7" CPUs will offer up to 256 cores based on the next-gen P-Core technology to tackle AMD EPYC Venice.
The original plans for Diamond Rapids, Intel's upcoming Xeon platform, were quite ambitious . But it looks like the released chips will be a leaner version of what was initially planned.
If you remember our previous reports on Diamond Rapids, we discussed 384- and 512-core count variants, going beyond anything on the market. These were the core counts for the RRF & TDF DC platforms. The chips were going to be part of the Diamond Rapids-HD (high-density) designs that would've replaced Clearwater Forest, so they were based on E-Cores, but it looks like these plans were cancelled.
Jaykihn says that the 512-core platform was cancelled in the definition stage, and the platform as a whole was gutted in December last year. Now, only the P-Core variants remain.
The Diamond Rapids P-Core variants are said to offer a 50% increase in core density. That gives us up to 192 cores since Granite Rapids " Xeon 6900P " currently tops out at 128 cores. But it looks like the flagship will feature an even higher core count.
It is reported that the top Intel Diamond Rapids "Xeon 7" SKU will feature 256 P-Cores. This 256-core SKU hasn't been announced yet since the lineup hasn't been formally launched (but is in the works, as we saw the first SKU leak out recently ), so it remains to be seen if Intel will release this SKU or not.
But a 256 P-Core variant will be able to match the peak core count of the AMD EPYC Venice , which tops out at 256 "Zen 6" cores. AMD has one 256-core (EPYC 9996) & one 192-core (EPYC 9966) SKU in its 6th Gen EPYC family. So if Intel manages to release a 256-core Xeon 7 SKU, they will be able to tackle both in terms of core count.
The bigger question is whether Intel chips will be competitive enough from a performance and efficiency point of view. Zen 6 has delivered another massive leap to EPYC CPUs, and Intel's Xeon 7 chips are currently nowhere in sight. The fact that AMD has its chip on 2nm and in volume production while Xeon 7 is planned for 2027 on the 18A-P node means that the blue team has a lot to prove.
To make matters worse, NVIDIA and several other firms are working on their own CPUs, which are entering the AI Enterprise and Cloud Data Center segment in a big way. But given the need for more compute, tech firms would love to gobble up any supply they can get access to. Intel's older CPUs have already risen in price after seeing increased demand, and the company is currently experiencing heightened demand for its chip manufacturing services.
So there's that, but Intel still needs to showcase its ability as a top-tier chip provider, and it looks like Diamond Rapids will be a step in that direction, with Coral Rapids further enhancing its competitive footprint in these CPU/AI segments.
Intel Xeon CPU Families (Preliminary):
| Family Branding | Coral Rapids | 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 14A? | Intel 18A-P | Intel 18A | Intel 3 | Intel 3 | Intel 7 | Intel 7 | 10nm+ | 14nm++ | 14nm++ | 14nm+ |
| Platform Name | TBD | Intel Oak Stream | Intel Birch 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 | TBD | Panther Cove-X | Darkmont | Redwood Cove | Sierra Glen | Raptor Cove | Golden Cove | Sunny Cove | Cascade Lake | Cascade Lake | Skylake |
| MCP (Multi-Chip Package) SKUs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No |
| Socket | TBD | LGA XXXX / 9324 | LGA 4710 / 7529 | LGA 4710 / 7529 | LGA 4710 / 7529 | LGA 4677 | LGA 4677 | LGA 4189 | LGA 4189 | LGA 3647 | LGA 3647 |
| Max Core Count | TBD | Up To 192 P-Cores | Up To 288 | Up To 128 | Up To 288 | Up To 64? | Up To 56 | Up To 40 | Up To 28 | Up To 28 | Up To 28 |
| Max Thread Count | TBD | Up To 192 | Up To 288 | Up To 256 | 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 | 480 MB L3 | 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 | TBD | Up To 16-Channel DDR5-9000+ | Up To 12-Channel DDR5-8000 | Up To 12-Channel DDR5-6400 MCR-8800 | Up To 12-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 | PCIe 6.0 | PCIe 5.0 (96 Lanes) | PCIe 5.0 (136 Lanes) | PCIe 5.0 (88Lanes) | 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) | TBD | TBD | Up To 500W | Up To 500W | Up To 350W | Up To 350W | Up To 350W | 105-270W | 150W-250W | 165W-205W | 140W-205W |
| 3D Xpoint Optane DIMM | TBD | TBD | N/A | Donahue Pass | N/A | Crow Pass | Crow Pass | Barlow Pass | Barlow Pass | Apache Pass | N/A |
| Competition | TBD | AMD EPYC Venice | AMD EPYC Turin | 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 | 2028-2029 | 2027 | 2026 | 2024 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018 | 2017 |
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.