It is more realistic to expect the release of 344-core CPUs
Intel seems to have decided to give a serious fight to AMD in the market, where the latter has been actively pushing the former for the past few years. In the coming years, Intel will release several lines of server Xeon CPUs, in one of which top models can get up to 528 cores!
Recall that the Sapphire Rapids that entered the market can have up to 60 cores, and even then only one model. Against the backdrop of the 96-core Epyc Genoa and the upcoming Epyc Bergamo with their 128 cores, this is very small. Actually, tests show that this is not enough not only in terms of numbers. But next year, Intel may release Sierra Forest Xeon CPUs, which will have many times more cores. Actually, almost on the order. True, not true.
According to recent data, Sierra Forest can get four tiles of 86 cores, that is, a total of 344 cores in the maximum configuration. But perhaps Intel will also release a variant with 132 cores per tile, that is, with 528 cores. This is an incredible amount even for Arm-based CPUs, not to mention x86-compatible solutions. But you need to understand that we are talking about small nuclei. However, it’s still incredibly large.
Of course, such CPUs will be more specialized than solutions with large cores. The same Epyc Bergamo, as AMD itself explained, will also be aimed at certain tasks.
More classic Intel CPUs will also get a lot of cores. The Xeon Granite Rapids-SP line will only have large cores based on the Redwood Cove+ architecture. Such processors will include up to three tiles of 44 cores each, that is, there can be up to 132 cores in total.
In addition, Granite Rapids-WS for the consumer market and workstations will also be released. Such processors will have two tiles, that is, up to 88 cores, but supposedly real configurations will only offer up to 86 cores. In any case, this is also a lot. However, it is precisely in this segment that Intel may not eventually outperform AMD, since the Threadripper 7000, according to available data, will receive the same 96 cores as the related Epyc Genoa.
All these processors supposedly should be released next year, and some may appear at the end of this year. However, the nuance is that they must be built on the Intel 3 process technology, and this despite the fact that now the company has mastered only Intel 7, and there will also be Intel 4 between them. Moreover, the latest Intel roadmap for 2023 did not contain The Meteor Lake CPU is based on Intel 4, which means that even these processors could carry over to 2024. And then it turns out that in 2024 the company needs to release products on two different technical processes at once. You can also recall that CPU Sapphire Rapids was generally delayed from the company’s original plans by more than two years. Thus, it is not yet clear how much you can believe that the incredible Intel CPUs described above will be released next year.
