Sapphire Rapids Explained

Sapphire Rapids
Soldby:	Intel
Designfirm:	Intel
Manuf1:	Intel
Cpuid:	806F6
Code:	80713
Clock:	Up to 4.8 GHz
Qpi-Slowest:	16
Dmi-Slowest:	16
L1cache:	80 KB per core (32 KB instruction + 48 KB data)
L2cache:	2 MB per core
L3cache:	Up to 112.5 MB (1.875 MB per core)
L4cache:	64 GB HBM2a (Xeon Max only)
Application:	Server Workstation Embedded
Size-From:	Intel 7 (previously known as 10ESF)
Microarch:	Golden Cove
Arch:	x86-64
Instructions:	MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, AVX-512, AVX-VNNI, TSX, AMX, AES-NI, CLMUL, RDRAND
Extensions:	SHA, TXT, VT-x, VT-d, DSA, QAT, DLB, IAA
Numcores:	6-60 per socket
Amountmemory:	Up to 4 TB per socket
Memory1:	Up to octa-channel DDR5-4800 with ECC support
Pack1:	Flip chip land grid array (FC-LGA)
Sock1:	LGA 4677
Pcode1:	SPR
Model1:	Sapphire Rapids-SP
Model2:	Sapphire Rapids-WS
Model3:	Sapphire Rapids-HBM
Brand1:	Xeon Bronze/Sliver/Gold/Platinum
Brand2:	Xeon Max Series
Brand3:	Xeon w3/w5/w7/w9
Predecessor:	Ice Lake (workstations, 1S and 2S servers) Cooper Lake (4S and 8S servers)
Successor:	Emerald Rapids
Support Status:	Supported

Sapphire Rapids is a codename for Intel's server (fourth generation Xeon Scalable) and workstation (Xeon W-2400 and Xeon W-3400) processors based on the Golden Cove microarchitecture and produced using Intel 7.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} It features up to 60 cores and an array of accelerators, and it is the first generation of Intel server and workstation processors to use a chiplet design.

Sapphire Rapids is part of the Eagle Stream server platform.^{[5] [6]} In addition, it powers Aurora, an exascale supercomputer in the United States, at Argonne National Laboratory.^[7]

History

Sapphire Rapids has been a long-standing Intel project along Alder Lake in development for over five years and has been subjected to many delays.^[8] It was first announced by Intel at their Investor Meeting in May 2019 with the intention of Sapphire Rapids succeeding Ice Lake and Cooper Lake in 2021.^{[9] [10]} Intel again announced details on Sapphire Rapids in their August 2021 Architecture Day presentation with no mention of a launch date.^[11]

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger tacitly blamed the previous Intel leadership as a reason for Sapphire Rapid's many delays.^[8] One industry analyst firm claimed that Intel was having problems with yields from its Intel 7 node with yields of 50–60% on higher core-count silicon.^[12] Sapphire Rapids was originally scheduled for a launch in the first half of 2022.^[13] It was later scheduled for release in Q4 2022 but was again delayed to early 2023.^[14] The specific announcement date of January 10, 2023 was not revealed by Intel until November 2022.^[15]

The server processor lineup was released on January 10, 2023, and the workstation processor lineup was released on February 15, 2023.^[16] Those processors were available for shipping on March 14 of that year.^[17] Intel shipped the millionth of this generation Xeon processors in 2023.^[18]

Features

CPU

• Up to 60 Golden Cove CPU cores per package^[19]
  • Up to 15 cores per tile, a 60 core Xeon Platinum 8490H uses 4 dies populated with 15 cores to have 60 cores in total
• AVX512-FP16^[20]
• TSX Suspend Load Address Tracking (TSXLDTRK)^[21]
• Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX)^[19]
• Trust Domain Extensions (TDX), a collection of technologies to help deploy hardware-isolated virtual machines (VMs) called trust domains (TDs)^[22]

Accelerators

• In-Field Scan (IFS), a technology that allows for testing the processor for potential hardware faults without taking it completely offline^[23]
• Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), allows for speeding up data copy and transformation between different kinds of storage^{[24] [25]}
• QuickAssist Technology (QAT), allows for improved performance of compression and encryption tasks
• Dynamic Load Balancer (DLB), allows for offloading tasks of load balancing, packet prioritization and queue management
• In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), allows accelerating in-memory databases and big data analytics

Not all accelerators are available in all processor models. Some accelerators are available under the Intel On Demand program, also known as Software Defined Silicon (SDSi), where a license is required to activate a given accelerator that is physically present in the processor. The license can be obtained as a one-time purchase or as a paid subscription. Activating the license requires support in the operating system. A driver with the necessary support was added in Linux kernel version 6.2.^[26]

I/O

• PCI Express 5.0^[19]
• Direct Media Interface 4.0
• 8-channel DDR5 ECC memory support up to DDR5-4800, up to 2 DIMMs per channel
• On-package High Bandwidth Memory 2.0e memory as L4 cache on Xeon Max models^{[27] [28]}
• Compute Express Link 1.1^[19]

Die configurations

Sapphire Rapids come in two varieties: the low-core-count variety uses a single die (MCC), and the high-core-count variety uses multiple dies on a single package (XCC).

XCC multi-die configuration

• Multi-chiplet chip with four tiles linked by 2.5D Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridges. Each tile is a 400mm² system on a chip, providing both compute cores and I/O.^[29]
  • Each tile contains 15 Golden Cove cores, and a single UPI link
  • Each tile's memory controller provides two channels of DDR5 ECC supporting 4 DIMMs (2 per channel) and 1 TB of memory with a maximum of 8 channels, 16 DIMMs, and 4 TB memory across 4 tiles^[30]
  • A tile provides up to 32 PCIe 5.0 lanes, but one of the eight PCIe controllers of a CPU is usually reserved for DMI, resulting in a maximum of 112 non-chipset lanes. This maximum is only reached in the W-3400 series processors, while the server processors have 80 (20 per tile).^[31]

List of Sapphire Rapids processors

Sapphire Rapids-HBM (High Bandwidth Memory/Xeon Max Series)

Xeon Max processors contain 64 GB of High Bandwidth Memory.

Model number	Cores (threads)	Base clock	Turbo Boost		Smart cache	TDP	Maximum scalability	Registered DDR5 w. ECC support	UPI links	Release MSRP (USD)
			Allcore	Singlecore
9480	56 (112)	1.9 GHz	2.6 GHz	3.5 GHz	112.5 MB	350 W	2S	4800 MT/s	4	$12980
9470	52 (104)	2.0 GHz	2.7 GHz		105.0 MB					$11590
9468	48 (96)	2.1 GHz	2.6 GHz							$9900
9460	40 (80)	2.2 GHz	2.7 GHz		97.5 MB				3	$8750
9462	32 (64)	2.7 GHz	3.1 GHz		75.0 MB					$7995

Sapphire Rapids-SP (Scalable Performance)

With its maximum of 60 cores, Sapphire Rapids-SP competes with AMD's Epyc 8004/9004 Genoa with up to 96 cores and Bergamo with up to 128 cores. Sapphire Rapids Xeon server processors are scalable from single-socket configurations up to 8 socket configurations.^{[32] [33]}

Suffixes to denote:^[34]

• +: Includes 1 of each of the four accelerators: DSA, IAA, QAT, DLB
• H: Database and analytics workloads, supports 4S (Xeon Gold) and/or 8S (Xeon Platinum) configurations and includes all of the accelerators
• M: Media transcode workloads
• N: Network/5G/Edge workloads (High TPT/Low Latency), some are uniprocessor
• P: Cloud and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) workloads
• Q: Liquid cooling
• S: Storage & Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) workloads
• T: Long-life use/High thermal case
• U: Uniprocessor (some workload-specific SKUs may also be uniprocessor)
• V: Optimized for cloud and software as a service (SaaS) workloads, some are uniprocessor
• Y: Speed Select Technology-Performance Profile (SST-PP) enabled (some workload-specific SKUs may also support SST-PP)
• Y+: Speed Select Technology-Performance Profile (SST-PP) enabled and includes 1 of each of the accelerators.

Model number	Cores (threads)	Base clock	Turbo Boost		Smart cache	TDP	Maximum scalability	Registered DDR5 w. ECC support	UPI links	Release MSRP (USD)
			All core	Single core
Xeon Platinum (8400)
8490H	60 (120)	1.9 GHz	2.9 GHz	3.5 GHz	112.5 MB	350 W	8S	4800 MT/s	4	$17000
8488C	48 (96)	2.4 GHz	3.2 GHz	3.8 GHz	105.0 MB	385 W	2S
8487C	56 (112)	1.9 GHz		3.8 GHz		350 W
8481C		2.0 GHz	2.9 GHz
8480+			3.0 GHz						4	$10710
8480C
8478C	48 (96)	2.2 GHz	?
8475B		2.7 GHz	3.2 GHz		97.5 MB
8474C		2.1 GHz
8473C	52 (104)		2.9 GHz		105.0 MB
8471N		1.8 GHz	2.8 GHz	3.6 GHz	97.5 MB	300 W	1S		4	$5171
8470Q		2.1 GHz	3.2 GHz	3.8 GHz	105.0 MB	350 W	2S			$9410
8470N		1.7 GHz	2.7 GHz	3.6 GHz	97.5 MB	300 W				$9520
8470		2.0 GHz	3.0 GHz	3.8 GHz	105.0 MB	350 W				$9359
8469C	48 (96)	2.6 GHz	3.1 GHz		97.5 MB
8468V		2.4 GHz	2.9 GHz			330 W			3	$7121
8468H		2.1 GHz	3.0 GHz		105.0 MB		8S		4	$13923
8468			3.1 GHz			350 W	2S			$7214
8465C	52 (104)		2.9 GHz
8462Y+	32 (64)	2.8 GHz	3.6 GHz	4.1 GHz	60.0 MB	300 W			3	$5945
8461V	48 (96)	2.2 GHz	2.8 GHz	3.7 GHz	97.5 MB		1S		0	$4491
8460Y+	40 (80)	2.0 GHz			105.0 MB		2S		4	$5558
8460H		2.2 GHz	3.1 GHz	3.8 GHz		330 W	8S			$10710
8458P	44 (88)	2.7 GHz	3.2 GHz		82.5 MB	350 W	2S		3	$7121
8454H	32 (64)	2.1 GHz	2.7 GHz	3.4 GHz		270 W	8S		4	$6540
8452Y	36 (72)	2.0 GHz	2.8 GHz	3.2 GHz	67.5 MB	300 W	2S			$3995
8450H	28 (56)		2.6 GHz	3.5 GHz	75.0 MB	250 W	8S			$4708
8444H	16 (32)	2.9 GHz	3.2 GHz	4.0 GHz	45.0 MB	270 W				$4234
8432C	40 (80)			3.8 GHz		350 W	2S
8422C	36 (72)
Xeon Gold (5400 and 6400)
6462C	32 (64)	3.3 GHz			60.0 MB		2S	4800 MT/s
6458Q		3.1 GHz	4.0 GHz			350 W			3	$6416
6456C		2.9 GHz	3.3 GHz	4.1 GHz		280 W
6454S		2.2 GHz	2.8 GHz	3.4 GHz		270 W			4	$3157
6448Y		2.1 GHz	3.0 GHz	4.1 GHz		225 W			3	$3583
6448H		2.4 GHz	3.2 GHz			250 W	4S			$3658
6444Y	16 (32)	3.6 GHz	4.0 GHz		45.0 MB	270 W	2S			$3622
6442Y	24 (48)	2.6 GHz	3.3 GHz	4.0 GHz	60.0 MB	225 W				$2878
6438Y+	32 (64)	2.0 GHz	2.8 GHz			205 W				$3141
6438N			2.7 GHz	3.6 GHz						$3351
6438M		2.2 GHz	2.8 GHz	3.9 GHz						$3273
6434H	8 (16)	3.7 GHz	4.1 GHz		22.5 MB	195 W	4S			$3070
6434							2S			$2607
6430	32 (64)	2.1 GHz	2.6 GHz	3.4 GHz	60.0 MB	270 W		4400 MT/s		$2128
6428N		1.8 GHz	2.5 GHz	3.8 GHz		185 W		4000 MT/s		$3200
6426Y	16 (32)	2.5 GHz	3.3 GHz	4.1 GHz	37.5 MB			4800 MT/s		$1517
6421N	32 (64)	1.8 GHz	2.6 GHz	3.6 GHz	60.0 MB		1S	4400 MT/s		$2368
6418H	24 (48)	2.1 GHz	2.9 GHz	4.0 GHz			4S	4800 MT/s		$2065
6416H	18 (36)	2.2 GHz		4.2 GHz	45.0 MB	165 W				$1444
6414U	32 (64)	2.0 GHz	2.6 GHz	3.4 GHz	60.0 MB	250 W	1S		0	$2296
5420+	28 (56)		2.7 GHz	4.1 GHz	52.5 MB	205 W	2S	4400 MT/s	3	$1848
5418Y	24 (48)		2.8 GHz	3.8 GHz	45.0 MB	185 W				$1483
5418N		1.8 GHz	2.6 GHz			165 W		4000 MT/s		$1664
5416S	16 (32)	2.0 GHz	2.8 GHz	4.0 GHz	30.0 MB	150 W		4400 MT/s		$944
5415+	8 (16)	2.9 GHz	3.6 GHz	4.1 GHz	22.5 MB					$1066
5412U	24 (48)	2.1 GHz	2.9 GHz	3.9 GHz	45.0 MB	185 W	1S		0	$1113
5411N		1.9 GHz	2.8 GHz			165 W			3	$1388
Xeon Silver (4400)
4416+	20 (40)	2.0 GHz	2.9 GHz	3.9 GHz	37.5 MB	165 W	2S	4000 MT/s	2	$1176
4410Y	12 (24)		2.8 GHz		30.0 MB	150 W				$563
4410T	10 (20)	2.7 GHz	3.4 GHz	4.0 GHz	26.25 MB					$624
Xeon Bronze (3400, 3500)
3508U	8 (8)	2.1 GHz	2.2 GHz		22.5 MB	125 W	1S	4400 MT/s	0	$415-$425
3408U		1.8 GHz	1.9 GHz					4000 MT/s

Sapphire Rapids-WS (Workstation)

With its maximum of 56 cores, Sapphire Rapids-WS competes with AMD's Threadripper PRO 5000WX Chagall with up to 64 cores.^[35] Like Intel's Core product segmentation into i3, i5, i7 and i9, Sapphire Rapids-WS is labeled Xeon w3, w5, w7 and w9.^[36] Sapphire Rapids-WS was unveiled in February 2023, and was made available for OEMs in March.^{[37] [38]} CPUs with "X" suffix have its multiplier unlocked for overclocking.^[39]

• No suffix letter: Locked clock multiplier
• X: Unlocked clock multiplier (adjustable with no ratio limit)
• Xeon W-2400 uses a monolithic design and supports up to 64 PCI Express 5.0 lanes, while Xeon W-3400 uses a chiplet design and supports up to 112 lanes. Both support 8 DMI 4.0 lanes.

Model	Cores (threads)	Clock rate (GHz)			Smart cache	Registered DDR5 w. ECC support	TDP		Release MSRP (USD)
		Base	Turbo Boost				Base	Turbo
			2.0	3.0
Xeon W-3400 (SPR-112L)
w9-3495X	56 (112)	1.9	4.6	4.8	105 MB	8-channel 4800 MT/s 4 TB	350 W	420 W	$5889
w9-3475X	36 (72)	2.2			82.5 MB		300 W		$3739
w7-3465X	28 (56)	2.5			75.0 MB			360 W	$2889
w7-3455	24 (48)				67.5 MB		270 W	324 W	$2489
w7-3445	20 (40)	2.6			52.5 MB				$1989
w5-3435X	16 (32)	3.1	4.5	4.7	45.0 MB				$1589
w5-3425	12 (24)	3.2	4.4	4.6	30.0 MB				$1189
Xeon W-2400 (SPR-64L)
w7-2495X	24 (48)	2.5	4.6	4.8	45.0 MB	4-channel 4800 MT/s 2 TB	225 W	270 W	$2189
w7-2475X	20 (40)	2.6			37.5 MB				$1789
w5-2465X	16 (32)	3.1	4.5	4.7	33.75 MB		200 W	240 W	$1389
w5-2455X	12 (24)	3.2	4.4	4.6	30.0 MB				$1039
w5-2445	10 (20)	3.1			26.25 MB		175 W	210 W	$839
w3-2435	8 (16)		4.3	4.5	22.5 MB	4-channel 4400 MT/s 2 TB	165 W	198 W	$669
w3-2425	6 (12)	3.0	4.2	4.4	15.0 MB		130 W	156 W	$529
w3-2423		2.1	4.0	4.2			120 W	144 W	$359

See also

• Intel's process–architecture–optimization model
• Intel's tick–tock model
• List of Intel CPU microarchitectures

Notes and References

1. Web site: Cutress . Ian . August 13, 2020 . Intel's 11th Gen Core Tiger Lake SoC Detailed: SuperFin, Willow Cove and Xe-LP . AnandTech . en-US . August 20, 2020.
2. Web site: Mujtaba . Hassan . October 14, 2019 . Intel Sapphire Rapids & Granite Rapids Xeons Are LGA 4677 Compatible . Wccftech . en-US . March 14, 2020.
3. Web site: Cutress . Ian . February 17, 2022 . Intel Discloses Multi-Generation Xeon Scalable Roadmap: New E-Core Only Xeons in 2024 . AnandTech . en-US . February 17, 2022.
4. Web site: Shilov . Anton . October 27, 2020 . Intel: Alder Lake Sampling, Sapphire Rapids Samples in Q4 . Tom's Hardware . en-US . November 10, 2022.
5. Web site: Mujtaba . Hassan . May 21, 2019 . Intel Xeon Roadmap Leak, 10nm Ice Lake, Sapphire Rapids CPU Detailed . Wccftech . en-US . March 14, 2020.
6. Web site: Alcorn . Paul . June 29, 2021 . Intel's Sapphire Rapids Roadmap Slips: Enters Production in 2022 . Tom's Hardware . en-US . June 30, 2021.
7. Web site: Russell . John . November 17, 2019 . Intel Debuts New GPU – Ponte Vecchio – and Outlines Aspirations for oneAPI . HPC Wire . en-US . November 18, 2019.
8. Web site: Patel . Nilay . October 4, 2022 . Pat Gelsinger came back to turn Intel around — here's how it's going . The Verge . en-US . November 10, 2022.
9. Web site: Schor . David . May 21, 2019 . Leaked Intel Server Roadmap Shows Sapphire Rapids With DDR5/PCIe 5.0 For 2021, Granite Rapids For 2022 . WikiChip Fuse . en-US . November 29, 2022.
10. Web site: Mujtaba . Hassan . May 21, 2019 . Intel Xeon Roadmap Leaked Out, Unveils 10nm Ice Lake-SP With PCIe Gen 4 & Up To 26 Cores in 2020, Next-Gen Sapphire Rapids With PCIe Gen 5 & DDR5 in 2021 . Wccftech . en-US . November 29, 2022.
11. Web site: Intel Technology . August 19, 2021 . Sapphire Rapids – Architecture Day 2021 Intel Technology . YouTube . en-US . November 29, 2022.
12. Web site: Wheatley . Mike . November 1, 2022 . Intel's Sapphire Rapids server chips face yet more delays, with AMD set to benefit . Silicon Angle . en-US . November 19, 2022.
13. Web site: Cutress . Ian . June 29, 2021 . Update on Intel Sapphire Rapids in 2022: Q1 for Production, Q2 for Ramp, H1 Launch . AnandTech . en-US . November 10, 2022.
14. Web site: Cunningham . Andrew . November 2, 2022 . Intel's oft-delayed "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon CPUs are finally coming in early 2023 . Ars Technica . en-US . November 10, 2022.
15. Web site: Shilov . Anton . November 2, 2022 . Intel's Sapphire Rapids Formal Launch Date Revealed . Tom's Hardware . en-US . November 10, 2022.
16. Web site: Intel Launches New Xeon Workstation Processors – the Ultimate... . 2023-02-17 . Intel . en.
17. Web site: 4th Gen Intel Xeon Sprints into the Market . Intel . en-US . April 2, 2023.
18. Intel Corporation, Intel Unveils Future-Generation Xeon with Robust Performance and Efficiency Architectures
19. Web site: Cutress . Ian . August 31, 2021 . Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids: How To Go Monolithic with Tiles . AnandTech . en-US . November 10, 2022.
20. Web site: Intel® AVX512-FP16 Architecture Specification, June 2021, Revision 1.0, Ref. 347407-001US . Intel . en-US . June 30, 2021 . July 4, 2021.
21. Web site: Intel® Architecture Instruction Set Extensions and Future Features Programming Reference . Intel . en-US . May 2021 . November 10, 2022.
22. Web site: Shah . Agam . Intel's TDX Goes Through the Grind Ahead of Mass Release to Cloud. EnterpriseAI . April 25, 2023 . May 29, 2023.
23. Web site: Larabel . Michael . December 16, 2022 . Intel IFS Ready To Weed Out Faulty Silicon With Linux 6.2 . January 13, 2023 . Phoronix . en-US.
24. Web site: Jiang . Dave . November 20, 2019 . Introducing the Intel® Data Streaming Accelerator (Intel® DSA) . November 10, 2022 . 01 Intel Open Source . en-US.
25. Web site: Larabel . Michael . January 13, 2023 . Setting Up Intel 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" For Accelerator Use . January 13, 2023 . Phoronix . en-US.
26. Web site: Larabel . Michael . November 23, 2022 . Intel Details The Accelerators & Security Features For On Demand / Software Defined Silicon . January 13, 2023 . Phoronix . en-US.
27. Web site: Shilov . Anton . December 30, 2020 . Intel Confirms On-Package HBM Memory Support for Sapphire Rapids . Tom's Hardware . en-US . January 1, 2021.
28. Web site: Cutress . Ian . November 15, 2021 . Intel: Sapphire Rapids With 64 GB of HBM2e, Ponte Vecchio with 408 MB L2 Cache . AnandTech . en-US . November 10, 2022.
29. Web site: Tyson . Mark . August 19, 2021 . Intel Sapphire Rapids utillises tiled, modular SoC architecture . Hexus . en-GB . November 19, 2022.
30. Web site: Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon 4-tile MCM Annotated . TechPowerUp . en-US . February 21, 2022 . November 19, 2022.
31. Web site: Kennedy . Patrick . New Workstation Kingpins Intel Xeon W-3400 Xeon W-2400 and W790 Launch . ServeTheHome . February 15, 2023.
32. Web site: Robinson . Cliff . October 6, 2022 . Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids to Scale to 4 and 8 Sockets . ServeTheHome . en-US . November 27, 2022.
33. Web site: Intel 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" Server Processors Launch in January . TechPowerUp . en-US . November 2, 2022 . November 27, 2022.
34. Web site: 19 January 2024 . Intel Xeon Scalable Processor Reference for Lenovo ThinkSystem Servers . 2024-02-23 . Lenovo Press . . en.
35. Web site: Liu . Zhiye . July 23, 2022 . Intel Sapphire Rapids Workstation Specs Leaked: Up To 56 Cores, 350W TDP . Tom's Hardware . en-US . November 24, 2022.
36. Web site: Mujtaba . Hassan . July 23, 2022 . Intel Sapphire Rapids-WS Xeon Workstation CPU Lineup Specs Leaked: Xeon W9 Up To 56 Cores, Xeon W7 Up To 28 Cores, Xeon W5 Up To 16 Cores . Wccftech . en-US . November 24, 2022.
37. Web site: Intel Launches New Xeon Workstation Processors – the Ultimate Solution for Professionals . Intel . en-US . February 16, 2023.
38. Web site: Chiappetta . Marco . February 16, 2023 . New Intel Xeon W Processors Offer Massive Performance Boosts For High-End Desktops And Workstations . Forbes . en-US . February 16, 2023.
39. Web site: Alcorn . Paul . February 15, 2023 . Intel Launches Overclockable Xeon W CPUs up to 56 Cores: a Return to HEDT-Class Chips . Tom's Hardware . en . February 16, 2023.