Intel kicked off volume shipments over its 10th generation 10nm Ice Lake processors for the consumer laptop market during Q3, and it looks as though roughly a year’s time will elapse before we see Ice Lake-based designs arrive for the workstation and server markets (i.e. Xeon processors).
A presentation slide taken from an ASUS IoT seminar gives us a glimpse at what Intel has in store with these Ice Lake-SP processors. For starters, the processors will be paired with the Whitley chipset and will use Socket P+ in 2S configurations.
Intel is planning to make Ice Lake-SP available in up to 38-core/76-thread configurations (per socket) with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 270 watts. Other features include support for 64 PCIe 4.0 lanes, 8-channel DDR4-3200 memory (16 DIMMs per socket) and Intel’s second-gen Optane DC Persistent Memory. Intel is targeting a Q3 2020 launch for Ice Lake-SP.
Although Ice Lake-SP is probably the most anticipated server-class chip from Intel, we can’t forget about Cooper Lake-SP, which will actually arrive one quarter earlier (Q2 2020). According to the leaked slide, this 14nm++ processor family will also use Socket P+, but will be available in up to 48-core/96-thread configurations (2P). We should mention, however, the Intel has already announced that Cooper Lake-SP will also be available in a 56-core/112-thread configuration as well.
TDP for these processors is rated at higher 300 watts, but they will also support 8-channel DDR4-3200. Cooper Lake-SP, however, misses out on PCIe 4.0 support, and tops out with 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes.
As exciting as these new chips may be for customers that have been exclusive to Intel-based workstations and servers over the past decade or so, AMD has already one mindshare (and market share) with its family of Zen- and Zen 2-based EPYC processors. First-generation EPYC 7001 processors gave customers just a taste of what AMD is capable of, and the second-generation EPYC 7002 processors have scored major performance (and design) wins.
By the time Cooper Lake-SP and Ice Lake-SP start rolling out next year — barring any unforeseen delays — Intel will be staring down the barrel of third-generation Zen 3-based EPYC 7003 processors being produced on TSMC’s 7nm+ process node.
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