Without any doubt, Intel's 4th Generation Xeon Scalable 'Sapphire Rapids' server processors are among the highly anticipated products in 2022. The CPUs were delayed several times, and their specifications remain a mystery. But as Intel's partners are testing samples of the new processors, their benchmark results inevitably emerge in various databases. This time around, someone posted results from Intel's 56-core Xeon Platinum 8480+ processor to Primate Labs's Geekbench 5 database.
As the name suggests, Intel's 56-core Xeon Platinum 8480+ with 112MB L2 cache and 105MB L3 cache belongs to the company's crème-de-la-crème server CPUs with all cores and features (AMX, AVX-512, CXL, DSA, etc.) enabled. Considering Intel's 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable nomenclature , we may be dealing with the new top-of-the-range SKU.
The Xeon Platinum 8480+ supports HyperThreading and has a base frequency of 2.0 GHz, according to the Geekbench 5 database entry . The relatively low clocks of the Xeon Platinum 8480+ (down from 2.30GHz in the case of the 40-core Xeon Platinum 8380 CPU) are a bit surprising because it is made using Intel's 10nm Enhanced SuperFin fabrication technology that features advanced power delivery and is generally designed to enable high frequencies on CPUs with a high core count. Perhaps the new Sapphire Rapids processors feature very high turbo clocks, but unfortunately, we have no idea how high the Xeon Platinum 8480+ CPU can go in turbo mode.
Primate Labs's Geekbench 5 is hardly the best benchmark for server CPUs (especially modern ones with various special-purpose accelerators). Still, it gives some clues about the integer, floating point, and multi-thread performance. Still, considering that we are dealing with pre-production hardware and firmware (Tyan's S5652AGM3NRE-2T LGA4677 motherboard was used), take the benchmark results with a grain of salt.
| Xeon Platinum 8480+ | EPYC 7763 | EPYC 7773X | Threadripper Pro 5995WX | M1 Ultra | Core i9-12900K | Ryzen 9 5950X | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General specifications | 56C, 2.0GHz - ?GHz, 112MB L3, 105MB L3 | 64C, 2.45 ~ 3.50GHz, 32MB L2, 256MB L3 | 64C, 2.20 ~ 3.50GHz, 32MB L2, 768MB L3 | 64C, 2.70 ~ 4.50GHz, 32MB L2, 256MB L3 | 16P, 4E, up to 3.22GHz, 48MB SLC | 8P, 8E, 3.20 ~ 5.10GHz, 30MB | 16C, 3.40 ~ 5.0 GHz, 64MB | General specifications |
| Single-Core | Integer | 639 | 1129 | 1143 | 1305 | 1632 | 1830 | 1435 | Single-Core | Integer |
| Single-Core | Float | 776 | 1437 | 1448 | 1715 | 1929 | 2189 | 1881 | Single-Core | Float |
| Single-Core | Crypto | 2069 | 3142 | 3157 | 3839 | 2803 | 6064 | 4089 | Single-Core | Crypto |
| Single-Core | Score | 752 | 1322 | 1335 | 1555 | 1780 | 2149 | 1702 | Single-Core | Score |
| Multi-Core | Integer | 36889 | 25446 | 50178 | 40600 | 21332 | 20631 | 16695 | Multi-Core | Integer |
| Multi-Core | Float | 39779 | 24662 | 50949 | 47800 | 27048 | 23205 | 18695 | Multi-Core | Float |
| Multi-Core | Crypto | 37642 | 10527 | 58040 | 56327 | 43345 | 17413 | 8145 | Multi-Core | Crypto |
| Multi-Core | Score | 37794 | 24465 | 50802 | 43546 | 24147 | 21242 | 16868 | Multi-Core | Score |
| Link | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/16285364 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/15865932 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/14494330 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/15806221 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/15872094 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/15911328 | https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/9506672 | Link |
The performance of Intel's Xeon Platinum 8480+ 'Sapphire Rapids' processor in Geekbench 5 is a mixed bag: it wins in certain cases but loses badly in others.
The CPU is considerably behind AMD's 64-core EPYC processors (that also feature rather low base clocks) in single-thread workloads. Intel's Golden Cove microarchitecture (used by Sapphire Rapids and Alder Lake CPUs) has very good single-thread performance, so perhaps the reason why Xeon Platinum 8480+ performs so poorly is because the pre-production chip does not boost its clocks (i.e., appropriate modes are disabled).
In multi-core workloads, Intel's Xeon Platinum 8480+ shows its potential and outperforms AMD's 64-core EPYC 7763 processor. Meanwhile, it cannot beat AMD's 64-core EPYC 7773X CPU, which is armed with 3D V-Cache, as well as Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5995WX, which has considerably higher clocks.
In general, Intel's 56-core Xeon Platinum 8480+ 'Sapphire Rapids' processor looks rather promising for pre-production hardware. It looks like, for now, Intel hasn't enabled boost clocks on samples of SPR CPUs for certain reasons, but what the 56-core/112-thread processor can do in multi-thread workloads at 2.0 GHz looks pretty impressive.
