ENERMAX, an industry-leading force dedicated to design extreme performance computer power supplies and cooling solutions, announces that its overclocking-graded AIO CPU cooler, LIQTECH TR4 II series, is now ready for Intel LGA4677 Xeon platform! The CPU mounting kits inside of the new version of LIQTECH TR4 II are designed for Intel Sapphire Rapid-based W-3400 and W-2400 series Xeon processors with socket LGA4677, and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors with socket sWRX8 / sTRX4/ TR4, as well as AMD socket SP3 for AMD EPYC processors.

Awarded as the BEST AIO CPU Cooler in European Hardware Awards, the LIQTECH TR4 II series is the world's first AIO CPU cooler tailored to provide 100% full coverage of the integrated heatspreader (IHS) of both AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO and upcoming Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids processors with unparalleled cooling results. The unbeatable cooling capacity (500 W TDP) makes it the best cooling solution for both Intel Xeon W-3400 and W-2400 series processor (LGA4677) and AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors designed for workstations and high-end desktops (HEDTs).

The new NH-U14S DX-4677, NH-U12S DX-4677, NH-U9 DX-4677 and NH-D9 DX-4677 4U are dedicated, customised solutions for Intel's professional LGA4677 platform (Sapphire Rapids), which makes them an ideal fit for both 4th generation Xeon Scalable CPUs (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze) and W-3400 or W-2400 series Xeon processors for workstations such as the w9-3495X, w7-3465X or w7-2495X. Whereas the large 14 cm NH-U14S DX-4677 and 12 cm NH-U12S DX-4677 are an excellent choice for tower-style cases and thus lend themselves to use in high-performance quiet workstations, the smaller NH-D9 DX-4677 4U and NH-U9 DX-4677 fit 4U cases, which makes them perfect for more compact workstations as well as 4U class rack-mount servers that need to run as quietly as possible.

While the NH-U9's direction of airflow is perpendicular to the long axis of the LGA4677 socket, the NH-D9's direction of airflow is parallel to the long axis of the LGA4677 socket. Depending on the orientation of the socket(s) on the motherboard, choosing either the NH-U9 or de NH-D9 enables system builders to align the airflow of the cooler(s) with the exhaust fans of the chassis and thereby ensure optimal system performance. Thanks to their compact footprint, both models are ideal for building dual socket setups with motherboards where larger coolers may interfere with each other.

Intel today announced the new Intel Xeon W-3400 and Intel Xeon W-2400 desktop workstation processors (code-named Sapphire Rapids), led by the Intel Xeon w9-3495X, Intel's most powerful desktop workstation processor ever designed. Built for professional creators, these new Xeon processors provide massive performance for media and entertainment, engineering and data science professionals. With a breakthrough new compute architecture, faster cores and new embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB) packaging, the Xeon W-3400 and Xeon W-2400 series of processors enable unprecedented scalability for increased performance.

"For more than 20 years, Intel has been committed to delivering the highest quality workstation platforms - combining high-performance compute and rock-solid stability - for professional PC users across the globe. Our new Intel Xeon desktop workstation platform is uniquely designed to unleash the innovation and creativity of professional creators, artists, engineers, designers, data scientists and power users - built to tackle both today's most demanding workloads as well as the professional workloads of the future." -Roger Chandler, Intel vice president and general manager, Creator and Workstation Solutions, Client Computing Group

Ahead of its launch, the SKU table of Intel's Xeon W "Sapphire Rapids" HEDT/Workstation-class processor lineup was leaked to the web. The lineup is horizontally split between the Xeon W-3400 series, and the Xeon W-2400 series. The W-2400 series come in rather modest CPU core-counts ranging between 6-core/12-thread and 24-core/48-thread. These chips are characterized by a 4-channel DDR5 memory interface (8 sub-channels); and a 64-lane PCIe Gen 5 I/O. The W-3400 series, on the other hand, ranges between 12-core/24-thread and 56-core/112-thread, nearly maxing out the core-count of the "Sapphire Rapids" MCM. These chips feature a massive 8-channel (16 sub-channel) DDR5 memory interface, and a 112-lane PCIe Gen 5 I/O. Prices for the lineup start at a surprisingly low $360 for the base W-2400 series SKU; while the top W-2400 series SKU is priced at $2,189. The W-3400 series ranges between $1,189 for the base 12-core/24-thread part, and goes all the way up to $5,889 for the top 56-core part. All models feature ECC memory support.

Intel today revealed that it will launch its Xeon W "Sapphire Rapids-WS" processors for workstations and high-end desktops (HEDTs) at a launch event dated February 15, 2023. The series is expected to consist of two distinct classes of processors, the Xeon W-2400 series, and the Xeon W-3400 series, which are rumored to be available from different dates within Q1-2023. The W-3400 series and W-2400 series could be differentiated with platform I/O and core-counts. The W-3400 series is expected to put out the full PCIe Gen 5 112-lane I/O of the "Sapphire Rapids" MCM, while the W-2400 series has a narrower 64-lane PCIe Gen 5 interface. The two could also differ in DDR5 memory channels (8 for the W-3400 series vs. 4 for the W-2400 series), and hence maximum memory supported (4 TB vs. 2 TB, respectively), although both support ECC. Intel W790 is expected to be the common chipset for both.

Intel's upcoming LGA-7529 socket designed for next-generation Xeon processors has been pictured, thanks to Yuuki_Ans and Hassan Mujtaba. According to the latest photos, we see the massive LGA-7529 socket with an astonishing 7,529 pins placed inside of a single socket. Made for Intel's upcoming "Birch Stream" platform, this socket is going to power Intel's next-generation "Sierra Forest" Xeon processors. With Sierra Forest representing a new way of thinking about Xeon processors, it also requires a special socket. Built on Intel 3 manufacturing process, these Xeon processors use only E-cores in their design to respond to AMD EPYC Bergamo with Zen4c.

The Intel Xeon roadmap will split in 2024, where Sierra Forest will populate dense and efficient cloud computing with E-cores, while its Granite Rapids sibling will power high-performance computing using P-cores. This interesting split will be followed by the new LGA-7529 socket pictured below, which is a step up from Intel's current LGA-4677 socket with 4677 pins used for Sapphire Rapids. With higher core densities and performance targets, the additional pins are likely to be mostly power/ground pins, while the smaller portion is picking up the additional I/O of the processor.20:20 UTC: Updated with motherboard picture of dual-socket LGA-7529 system, thanks to findings of @9550pro lurking in the Chinese forums.

Facing global economic headwinds, the four major North American cloud service providers (CSPs) have scaled back their server procurement quantities for 2023 and could make further downward corrections in the future. Meta is the leader among the four in terms of server demand reduction, followed by Microsoft, Google, and AWS. TrendForce has lowered the YoY growth rate of their total server procurement quantity for this year from the original projection of 6.9% to the latest projection of 4.4%. With CSPs cutting demand, global server shipments are now estimated to grow by just 1.87% YoY for 2023. Regarding the server DRAM market, prices there are estimated to drop by around 20~25% QoQ for 1Q23 as CSPs' downward corrections exacerbate the oversupply situation.

Looking at the four CSPs individually, the YoY decline of Meta's server procurement quantity has been widened to 3.0% and could get larger. The instability of the global economy remains the largest variable for all CSPs. Besides this, Meta has also encountered a notable obstacle in expanding its operation in Europe. Specifically, its data center in Denmark has not met the regional standard for emissions. This issue is expected to hinder its progress in setting up additional data centers across the EU. Moreover, businesses related to e-commerce account for about 98% of Meta's revenue. Therefore, the decline in e-commerce activities amidst the recent easing of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Meta's growth momentum. Additionally, Meta's server demand has been affected by the high level of component inventory held by server ODMs.

Intel's server processor lineup led by the 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" processors face stiff competition from AMD 4th Gen EPYC "Genoa" processors that offer significantly higher multi-threaded performance per Watt on account of a higher CPU core-count. The gap is only set to widen, as AMD prepares to launch the "Bergamo" processor for cloud data-centers, with core-counts of up to 128-core/256-thread per socket. A technologically-embattled Intel is preparing quick counters as many as three new server microarchitecture launches over the next 23 months, according to Intel, in its Q4-2022 Financial Results presentation.

The 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids," with a core-count of up to 60-core/120-thread, and various application-specific accelerators, witnessed a quiet launch earlier this month, and is shipping to Intel customers. The company says that it will be joined by the Xeon Scalable "Emerald Rapids" architecture in the second half of 2023; followed by "Granite Rapids" and "Sierra Forest" in 2024. Built on the same LGA4677 package as "Sapphire Rapids," the new "Emerald Rapids" MCM packs up to 64 "Raptor Cove" CPU cores, which support higher clock-speeds, higher memory speeds, and introduce the new Intel Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) instruction-set. The processor retains the 8-channel DDR5 memory interface, but with higher native memory speeds. The chip's main serial interface is a PCI-Express Gen 5 root-complex with 80 lanes. The processor will be built on the last foundry-level refinement of the Intel 7 node (10 nm Enhanced SuperFin); many of these refinements were introduced with the company's 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" client processors.

Intel Corporation today reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 financial results. The company also announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.365 per share on the company's common stock, which will be payable on March 1, 2023, to shareholders of record as of February 7, 2023.

"Despite the economic and market headwinds, we continued to make good progress on our strategic transformation in Q4, including advancing our product roadmap and improving our operational structure and processes to drive efficiencies while delivering at the low-end of our guided range," said Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO. "In 2023, we will continue to navigate the short-term challenges while striving to meet our long-term commitments, including delivering leadership products anchored on open and secure platforms, powered by at-scale manufacturing and supercharged by our incredible team."

Intel is preparing to launch HEDT/workstation processors based on its "Sapphire Rapids-WS" MCM, and one of the first of these parts, the Xeon W9-3495X, surfaced on the Geekbench online database. The W9-3495X is a 56-core/112-thread processor with 56 "Golden Cove" P-cores, each with 2 MB of L2 cache, and sharing 105 MB of L3 cache in a mesh-topology layout. The processor likely features an 4-channel (8 sub-channel) DDR5 memory interface, with ECC; and supports up to 4 TB of memory. The PCI-Express Gen 5 lane counts remain unknown. Intel is expected to launch these processors along with companion W790 chipset motherboards, on February 15, 2023. This processor, running on a Supermicro-designed motherboard, and 128 GB of DDR5 memory, scored 1284 points in Geekbench 5, along with 36990 points multi-threaded.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced its 64 GB, 32 GB, and 16 GB Server Premier DDR5 4800MT/s Registered DIMMs have been validated on the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Processor (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids). For over 35 years Kingston has been the memory brand trusted by leading server manufacturers and the world's largest data centers. Server Premier is Kingston's industry standard memory solution sold by specification for use in white-box servers, and is platform validated and qualified by leading motherboard/system manufacturers. Featuring a locked BOM (Bill of Materials) to provide a consistent brand and revision of primary components (including DRAM, register, PMIC, SPD hub, thermal sensors, and PCB), all Kingston server memory solutions are 100% tested and undergo a rigorous dynamic burn-in process designed to catch early-life failures at the factory.

Intel's 4th Gen Xeon Scalable Processor is their first to support next-generation DDR5 server-class memory and features eight memory channels, arranged in up to two DIMMs per channel, or 16 DIMMs per CPU socket. At 4800MT/s, each DDR5 Registered DIMM provides a peak bandwidth of 38.4 GB/s, which when grouped in multi-channel configurations provides a marked increase in performance over DDR4-based servers. DDR5 introduces advanced features for a more reliable and more efficient memory subsystem, including on-die ECC (ODECC), double the number of banks and double the burst length, improved refreshes, inclusion of a power management circuit (PMIC), additional temperature sensors, decision feedback equalization (DFE), and dual independent 32-bit subchannels (40-bit for ECC).

SK hynix Inc. (or "the company", www.skhynix.com) announced today that its DDR5 product for servers using 1anm, the fourth generation of the 10 nm process technology, has been validated on the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids) for the first time in the industry. "The validation of the 1anm DDR5 compatibility by Intel for its newest processor that supports DDR5 for the first time is monumental," SK hynix said. "We will seek a fast turnaround in the semiconductor memory industry by actively responding to the growing server market through DDR5, which is already in mass production."

The validation of the company's 1anm DDR5 product, which adopts 1anm technology using the EUV lithography process, is for 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel's latest server CPU launched on January 10th. The 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor has been cited as a key to a turnaround in the industry, given that the launch of a next-generation server CPU requires server replacement and thus, results in a rapid increase in demand for high-performance memory chips. Experts predict that DDR5, expected to meet customers' such needs, will soon become the flagship product in the server DRAM market.

AIC Inc., (from now on referred to as"AIC"), a leading provider in enterprise storage and server solutions, today unveiled its new server systems powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids). The new server platforms are designed to accelerate performance across the most in-demand workloads that businesses rely on including enterprise, storage, AI and HPC.

The newly launched AIC servers, SB102-HK, SB201-HK and HP202-KT, are designed to offer superior processing performance and energy efficiency by leveraging the innovative features of 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors. With built-in accelerators, the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors optimize the utilization of CPU core resources and feature enhanced memory bandwidth with DDR5, advanced I/O with PCIe Gen 5 and Compute Express Link (CXL) 2.0/1.1, and the ability to accelerate PyTorch real-time inference performance by up to 10x using Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (Intel AMX) compared to the previous generation. The new AIC servers are empowered by advanced security technologies from 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, allowing them to protect data and unlock new opportunities for business collaborations.

EK, the leading liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is announcing the availability of two high-performance liquid cooling solutions for the Intel "Sapphire Rapids" processor family. These single-socket LGA4677 water blocks are specifically designed to cool the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs that are optimized for advanced workstation professionals and go up to 60 cores.

EK is quite experienced with demanding needs of heavily threaded, I/O intensive workloads across the industries like Architecture, Engineering and Construction, Media and Entertainment, and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. This enabled them to create the EK-Pro CPU WB 4677, a water block designed to provide sufficient thermal headroom to maximize the performance benefits of Intel Turbo Boost Technology while maintaining healthy processor operating temperatures. EK aimed to create a liquid cooling solution that enables customers to operate at peak performance unrestricted by any thermals.

Micron Technology, Inc., today announced that its DDR5 server memory portfolio for the data center is now fully validated on the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor family. Micron DDR5 memory delivers up to twice the memory bandwidth over previous generations, which is essential to fueling the rapid growth of cores in today's data center processors. Transitioning to DDR5 will help alleviate a potential bottleneck for years to come by providing higher bandwidth to unlock more computer power per processor. Micron DDR5, in combination with 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, benefits a wide range of workloads including SPECjbb, which delivers up to 49% performance improvement on benchmarking for Critical-jOPS (Java operations per second) compared to previous generations. In addition to increased memory bandwidth and performance, Micron DDR5 memory is also designed to improve reliability across the data center with features such as on-die Error Correction Code (ODECC) and bounded faults. On-die ECC corrects single-bit errors and detects multi-bit errors.

"The deep collaboration we have established with Intel as a highly valued ecosystem partner, has allowed Micron to remain at the forefront of the industry transition to DDR5," said Raj Hazra, senior vice president and general manager of Micron's Compute and Networking Business Unit. "This work has been pivotal in developing solutions that meet the complex needs and challenges of our data center customers as they convert massive amounts of data into insights."

Intel today marked one of the most important product launches in company history with the unveiling of 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors (code-named Sapphire Rapids), the Intel Xeon CPU Max Series (code-named Sapphire Rapids HBM) and the Intel Data Center GPU Max Series (code-named Ponte Vecchio), delivering for its customers a leap in data center performance, efficiency, security and new capabilities for AI, the cloud, the network and edge, and the world's most powerful supercomputers.

Working alongside its customers and partners with 4th Gen Xeon, Intel is delivering differentiated solutions and systems at scale to tackle their biggest computing challenges. Intel's unique approach to providing purpose-built, workload-first acceleration and highly optimized software tuned for specific workloads enables the company to deliver the right performance at the right power for optimal overall total cost of ownership. Additionally, as Intel's most sustainable data center processors, 4th Gen Xeon processors deliver customers a range of features for managing power and performance, making the optimal use of CPU resources to help achieve their sustainability goals.

Intel is planning a January 2023 market debut of its 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" server processors, which will be followed rather quickly by the launch of Xeon W-3400 and W-2400 processors targeting a segment of the market that spans HEDTs and workstations. According to information scored by leaf_hobby, a reliable source with Intel roadmap leaks; the company is planning a February 2023 announcement of these processors, followed by availability of the W-2400 in March, and W-3400 in April.

Intel could extensively market the various hardware-accelerators on the "Sapphire Rapids" MCM to the workstation crowd, where they might help users overcome the rather low CPU core-count of these processors compared their upcoming AMD Threadripper 7000 series counterparts. "Sapphire Rapids" tops out at 60-core/120-thread per socket, whereas the SP5-based Threadripper 7000 is expected to offer 96-core/192-thread. Both platforms offer the latest I/O, including PCIe Gen 5, CXL, and ECC DDR5 memory.

Intel's Sapphire Rapids CPUs are designed to represent the company's finest work for the server/enterprise and high-end desktop processor (HEDT) sector. According to Wccftech, we have an idea of the launch date and availability of the HEDT Sapphire Rapids Workstation counterparts, codenamed Fishhawk Falls. The Intel Sapphire Rapids-WS CPU and W790 motherboard unveil should happen on the 7th week of 2023, which means the 12th Feb - 18th Feb launch window. For availability, April of 2023 is scheduled to meet the needs of the upcoming HEDT clients. With a declining HEDT market, Intel is in no rush to deliver the CPUs, with priority being the server Sapphire Rapids designs.

As a reminder, the HEDT models should come with up to 56 cores and 112 threads, 105 MB of L3 cache, 350 W TDP, and 112 PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes. For memory, the platform support 8-channel DDR5-4400 (1DPC) / DDR5-4800 (2DPC) configurations with a capacity of up to 4 TB.

Back in September 2021, reports about Intel working on something called SDSi or software defined silicon, started to appear. Now, over a year later, the company has finally launched its SDSi products under the Intel On Demand branding. Back then, we speculated about what features Intel would put behind a paywall and although we were somewhat off track, Intel has put some specific "instructions" behind the paywall on the supported Xeon processors. Specifically, some CPUs will have Quick Assist, Dynamic Load Balancer and Data Streaming Accelerator available as an On Demand feature. Additionally, Intel is also putting its Software Guard Extensions and In-Memory Analytics Accelerator behind the same pay wall.

It appears that these features will be offered as-a-service offering from some of Intel's service partners, but there's also a "one-time activation of select CPU accelerators and security features" according to the Intel On Demand website. It's unclear which Xeon SKUs will get Intel On Demand, but according to The Register, it'll be the upcoming Sapphire Rapids based Xeon processors which should be the first parts affected. Intel has listed partners like HP, Lenovo and SuperMicro, among others, that are involved with the Intel On Demand program. It will still be possible to buy next gen Xeon CPUs that are fully feature enabled like today, but it's unclear if the Intel On Demand Xeon SKUs will offer some kind of cost benefits to companies that don't need the additional features that are behind the paywall.

AMD will build "Zen 4" based Ryzen Threadripper processors in an attempt to meet competition from Intel, which is rumored to launch HEDT processors of its own based on "Sapphire Rapids." While Intel's chip tops out at 60-core/120-thread and has a constellation of task-specific hardware-accelerators, AMD will arm its processors with raw CPU core-count, going as high up as 96-core/192-thread. The company has assigned the codename "Storm Peak" for these chips.

The Ryzen Threadripper 7000-series "Storm Peak" processor engineering samples surfaced on the Einstein@Home user database. As many as three OPNs have surfaced, "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000884-21_N" and "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000884-20_Y," which are 96-core/192-thread; and the "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000000454-20_Y," which is 64-core/128-thread. "Storm Peak" is likely just a variation of EPYC "Genoa," geared for higher frequencies.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for Cloud, AI/ML, Storage, and 5G/Edge, at the 2022 Super Computing Conference is unveiling the most extensive portfolio of servers and storage systems in the industry based on the upcoming 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor, formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids. Supermicro continues to use its Building Block Solutions approach to deliver state-of-the-art and secure systems for the most demanding AI, Cloud, and 5G Edge requirements. The systems support high-performance CPUs and DDR5 memory with up to 2X the performance and capacities up to 512 GB DIMMs and PCIe 5.0, which doubles I/O bandwidth. Intel Xeon CPU Max Series CPUs (formerly codenamed Sapphire Rapids HBM High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)) is also available on a range of Supermicro X13 systems. In addition, support for high ambient temperature environments at up to 40° C (104° F), with servers designed for air and liquid cooling for optimal efficiency, are rack-scale optimized with open industry standard designs and improved security and manageability.

"Supermicro is once again at the forefront of delivering the broadest portfolio of systems based on the latest technology from Intel," stated Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Our Total IT Solutions strategy enables us to deliver a complete solution to our customers, which includes hardware, software, rack-scale testing, and liquid cooling. Our innovative platform design and architecture bring the best from the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, delivering maximum performance, configurability, and power savings to tackle the growing demand for performance and energy efficiency. The systems are rack-scale optimized with Supermicro's significant growth of rack-scale manufacturing of up to 3X rack capacity."

Yesterday, AMD announced its latest addition to the data center family of processors called EPYC Genoa. Named the 4th generation EPYC processors, they feature a Zen 4 design and bring additional I/O connectivity like PCIe 5.0, DDR5, and CXL support. To disrupt the cloud, enterprise, and HPC offerings, AMD decided to manufacture SKUs with up to 96 cores and 192 threads, an increase from the previous generation's 64C/128T designs. Today, we are learning more about the performance and power aspects of the 4th generation AMD EPYC Genoa 9654, 9554, and 9374F SKUs from 3rd party sources, and not the official AMD presentation. Tom's Hardware published a heap of benchmarks consisting of rendering, compilation, encoding, parallel computing, molecular dynamics, and much more.

In the comparison tests, we have AMD EPYC Milan 7763, 75F3, and Intel Xeon Platinum 8380, a current top-end Intel offering until Sapphire Rapids arrives. Comparing 3rd-gen EPYC 64C/128T SKUs with 4th-gen 64C/128T EPYC SKUs, the new generation brings about a 30% increase in compression and parallel compute benchmarks performance. When scaling to the 96C/192T SKU, the gap is widened, and AMD has a clear performance leader in the server marketplace. For more details about the benchmark results, go here to explore. As far as comparison to Intel offerings, AMD leads the pack as it has a more performant single and multi-threaded design. Of course, beating the Sapphire Rapids to market is a significant win for team red, so we are still waiting to see how the 4th generation Xeon stacks up against Genoa.

Today, MLCommons published results of its industry AI performance benchmark in which both the 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor (code-named Sapphire Rapids) and Habana Gaudi 2 dedicated deep learning accelerator logged impressive training results.


"I'm proud of our team's continued progress since we last submitted leadership results on MLPerf in June. Intel's 4th gen Xeon Scalable processor and Gaudi 2 AI accelerator support a wide array of AI functions and deliver leadership performance for customers who require deep learning training and large-scale workloads." Sandra Rivera, Intel executive vice president and general manager of the Datacenter and AI Group

In advance of Supercomputing '22 in Dallas, Intel Corporation has introduced the Intel Max Series product family with two leading-edge products for high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI): Intel Xeon CPU Max Series (code-named Sapphire Rapids HBM) and Intel Data Center GPU Max Series (code-named Ponte Vecchio). The new products will power the upcoming Aurora supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, with updates on its deployment shared today.

The Xeon Max CPU is the first and only x86-based processor with high bandwidth memory, accelerating many HPC workloads without the need for code changes. The Max Series GPU is Intel's highest density processor, packing over 100 billion transistors into a 47-tile package with up to 128 gigabytes (GB) of high bandwidth memory. The oneAPI open software ecosystem provides a single programming environment for both new processors. Intel's 2023 oneAPI and AI tools will deliver capabilities to enable the Intel Max Series products' advanced features.

Intel just finalized the launch date of its 4th Gen Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" server processors. The company plans to launch them on January 10, 2023. The new processors will be launched at a special event dedicated to the company's various new Data Center (group) innovations, which cover server processors, new networking innovations, possible launches from Intel's ecosystem partners, and more.

A lot is riding on the success of "Sapphire Rapids," as they see the introduction of Intel's new high-performance CPU core on in the enterprise segment at core-counts of up to 60-core/120-thread per socket; along with cutting-edge new I/O that includes DDR5 memory, PCI-Express Gen 5, next-gen CXL, and on-package HBM memory on certain variants.