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Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

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Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#31

Post by chx »

> Intel Corp.’s fourth-generation Xeon processor, codenamed Sapphire Rapids

If you are just as confused as I am at "fourth generation" when Xeon has been around for decades, they mean "fourth-generation Xeon Scalable Processor (SP)". Skylake-SP, Cascade Lake-SP, Ice Lake-SP were the previous generations. Where Xeon processors previously used E3/E5/E7 designations for 1/2/4+ socket capabilities, SP CPUs use metallic prefixes: Bronze representing basic processors, Silver low power, Gold adding different options for advanced interconnects and integrated accelerators, and Platinum offering the widest range of capabilities.

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#32

Post by martinpw »

x3sphere wrote: post #6
DSingularity wrote: post #4

Intel is in the cusp of getting taking out. Architectures and process technologies are both multiple generations behind. AMD has 10x its server share. If the trend sustains for one more generation the majority of the market will go to AMD.

Going by this... https://www.cpubenchmark.net/market_share.html Intel still has 90%+ of the server market. It only just started moving over to AMD. They did gain a lot of ground over Intel in the desktop market though.

That chart shows the installed base at the end of each quarter, not sales in each quarter - see note below the chart. So current Intel sales are likely significantly less than 90% of the server market.

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#33

Post by throwawaylinux »

DSingularity wrote: post #22
throwawaylinux wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was getting at. On technical execution they actually are doing pretty bad particularly in manufacturing but also in CPU design. But even technically it has been a few years in comparison to current leaders that previously lagged by similar amounts for many years. Of course financially they are doing far better. It's just amazing to me that people who really follow the AMD / Intel battle quite closely ca…

I said they are on the cusp. Please tell me, what happens if we end up with 10nm+++? You really think we would end up with anything other than with >50% of datacenter purchases going to amd?

You said they're being on the cusp of being "taken out".

> You really think we would end up with anything other than with >50% of datacenter purchases going to amd?

Even if this did happen, how do you believe AMD survived for decades with probably under 1% of data center purchases? And small share of PC and other server revenue? How as AMD able to weather through all that and eventually come out the other side with a good product that would not be possible for Intel?

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#34

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #29
icegreentea2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The article (second paragraph) clearly states that this is a first for Intel, not for Data Centers. Given that this is a trade-ish publication, I think writers/editors will more or less assume their audience understands the smackdown that AMD has been laying on Intel and AMD's chiplet strategy.

Though it's not even really a first for Intel. They made the Xeon 9200 series two years ago, and while those were slapdash and hard to buy, it's hard to argue that they don't deserve this crown. Two dies in a single package, each with 28 cores and memory controllers and I/O. Even when Intel moves to heterogeneous dies, that won't actually be a first for them, even in the modern era. Several early i3/i5/i7 models had…

The 9200 was a reaction to AMD's EPYC so surely AMD gets the crown?

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#35

Post by systemvoltage »

OrvalWintermute wrote: post #2

I thought AMD had already brought chiplets to data center CPUs a long time ago [1], [2] and that is why they are leading currently, now that they have multiple generations of chiplet data center CPUs out? [3] [1] https://www.wired.com/story/keep-pace-moores-law-chipmakers-... [2] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-epyc-processor-models-... [3] https://www.wired.com/story/keep-pace-moores-law-chipmakers-...

Chiplets aren’t a desired technology. It’s done for either yield (more common) or thermal reasons (less common).

It’s not something to brag about.

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#36

Post by 656565656565 »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #34
Dylan16807 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though it's not even really a first for Intel. They made the Xeon 9200 series two years ago, and while those were slapdash and hard to buy, it's hard to argue that they don't deserve this crown. Two dies in a single package, each with 28 cores and memory controllers and I/O. Even when Intel moves to heterogeneous dies, that won't actually be a first for them, even in the modern era. Several early i3/i5/i7 models had…

The 9200 was a reaction to AMD's EPYC so surely AMD gets the crown?

How long have IBM been doing MCM ?

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#37

Post by porker »

mhh__ wrote: post #7
DSingularity wrote: post #4

Intel is in the cusp of getting taking out. Architectures and process technologies are both multiple generations behind. AMD has 10x its server share. If the trend sustains for one more generation the majority of the market will go to AMD.

I'll have a glass of whatever you're having. Intel's first proper competitor to Zen is coming out soon, and from what I've seen so far it looks like a monster. Couple this with them launching GPU's into the most demand-heavy market we might ever see, they don't have to do much to have a good few years. Also, every measure I've ever seen has AMD still at least a doubling away from parity with Intel, so I find your fig…

> Couple this with them launching GPU's into the most demand-heavy market we might ever see, they don't have to do much to have a good few years.

From what I have read their GPUs will be fabbed by TSMC so they will be constrained by capacity as much as anyone else.

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#38

Post by justincormack »

systemvoltage wrote: post #35
OrvalWintermute wrote: post #2

I thought AMD had already brought chiplets to data center CPUs a long time ago [1], [2] and that is why they are leading currently, now that they have multiple generations of chiplet data center CPUs out? [3] [1] https://www.wired.com/story/keep-pace-moores-law-chipmakers-... [2] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-epyc-processor-models-... [3] https://www.wired.com/story/keep-pace-moores-law-chipmakers-...

Chiplets aren’t a desired technology. It’s done for either yield (more common) or thermal reasons (less common). It’s not something to brag about.

also done to allow more SKUs from the same components, allowing AMD to make up any mix of 8 to 64 core chips without manufacturing fixed quantities of each or disabling most of the die (expensive)

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#39

Post by unnah »

DSingularity wrote: post #21
mhh__ wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll have a glass of whatever you're having. Intel's first proper competitor to Zen is coming out soon, and from what I've seen so far it looks like a monster. Couple this with them launching GPU's into the most demand-heavy market we might ever see, they don't have to do much to have a good few years. Also, every measure I've ever seen has AMD still at least a doubling away from parity with Intel, so I find your fig…

Really? Show me what you’ve seen. EPYC continues to win and Xeon continues to lose. Same for TSMC on the manufacturing side.

The description of the Golden Cove microarchitecture at https://www.anandtech.com/show/16881/a-deep-dive-into-intels... certainly looks promising.

Re: Intel Brings Chiplets to Data Center CPUs

#40

Post by dogma1138 »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #30
jagger27 wrote: post #28

I find it interesting that the dies aren’t completely identical like Zen chiplets are. If I am reading the diagram correctly, it looks like the tiles diagonal from each other are the same. Kind of neat that they’ll have left-hand and right-hand wafers.

I wouldn't read too much into such a simple diagram. Early on a lot of people thought Epyc had mirrored dies but they're actually all the same.

Sapphire Rapids is confirmed to have mirrored dies, it’s not just a block diagram.

This is to make routing easier on packaging as well as optimize motherboard layout when it comes to memory, power and IO.

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