Monday, February 21st 2022

Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon 4-tile MCM Annotated

Intel Xeon Scalable "Sapphire Rapids" is an upcoming enterprise processor with a CPU core count of up to 60. This core-count is achieved using four dies inter-connected using EMIB. Locuza, who leads social media with logic die annotation, posted one for "Sapphire Rapids," based on a high-resolution die-shot revealed by Intel in its ISSCC 2022 presentation.

Each of the four dies in "Sapphire Rapids" is a fully-fledged multi-core processor in its own right, complete with CPU cores, integrated northbridge, memory and PCIe interfaces, and other platform I/O. What brings four of these together is the use of five EMIB bridges per die. This allows CPU cores of a die to transparantly access the I/O and memory controlled any of the other dies transparently. Logically, "Sapphire Rapids" isn't unlike AMD "Naples," which uses IFOP (Infinity Fabric over package) to inter-connect four 8-core "Zeppelin" dies, but the effort here appears to be to minimize the latency arising from an on-package interconnect, toward a high-bandwidth, low-latency one that uses silicon bridges with high-density microscopic wiring between them (akin to an interposer).
Within each die, the floor-plan is similar to several past generations of Intel enterprise processors. Intel uses the Mesh interconnect, and lays the various IP blocks across a grid, interconnecting them in a mesh of ring-buses. Mesh is a middle-ground between a ring-bus and full point-to-point interconnectivity. Each individual component in the Mesh is called a "tile." The die contains fifteen "Golden Cove" CPU cores, each with 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, and a 1.875 MB slice of last-level cache that contributes toward 28,800 KB (28.125 MB) of L3 cache that's shared among all 60 cores of the processor. The total L3 cache for the package is 112.5 MB.

Each die also features a memory-controller tile, with a 128-bit (160-bit including ECC) DDR5 PHY. This interface controls two DDR5 channels, which amounts to four 40-bit sub-channels. The package in total supports eight DDR5 channels (16 sub-channels). The PCIe/CXL interface for "Sapphire Rapids" is massive. Each die features a PCI-Express Gen 5 + CXL 1.1 root-complex with 32 lanes, working out to 128 PCI-Express Gen 5 or CXL 1.1 lanes.

The Accelerator tile packs Intel Data-Streaming Accelerator (DSA), QuickAssist Technology (QAT); and DLBoost 2.0, a hardware component that accelerates deep-learning neural net building and training.

The final kind of tile packs 24x UPI links that work as an inter-socket interconnect. Each of the four dies has this, making "Sapphire Rapids" technically capable of 8P.
Source: Locuza (Twitter)
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18 Comments on Intel "Sapphire Rapids" Xeon 4-tile MCM Annotated

#1
AxilomX
Wasn't it 5 years ago that Intel criticizied AMD for their "Glued together" architecture?
Posted on Reply
#2
dont whant to set it"'
Ah, "glue" , Intel is now hooked on this new "gateway drug".
Wasn't Kaby Lake planed to be on Intel's 10nm( what Intel calls now Seven/7) node?
Posted on Reply
#4
londiste
AxilomXWasn't it 5 years ago that Intel criticizied AMD for their "Glued together" architecture?
And that was a poke that somehow still gets people riled up all these years later?
Posted on Reply
#5
Cutechri
AxilomXWasn't it 5 years ago that Intel criticizied AMD for their "Glued together" architecture?
Yes, we get this comment every time anything MCM from Intel shows up. We get it.
Posted on Reply
#6
Vya Domus
The die contains fifteen "Golden Cove" CPU cores, each with 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, and a 1.875 MB slice of last-level cache that contributes toward 28,800 KB (28.125 MB) of L3 cache that's shared among all 60 cores of the processor. The total L3 cache for the package is 112.5 MB.
How did they manage to fit so little L3 cache memory ?
londisteAnd that was a poke that somehow still gets people riled up all these years later?
It's always risky to make stupid claims on tech related subjects because they can easily be analyzed later. People still remember when Gates said you'll never need more than 640K, so yeah, people don't forget.
Posted on Reply
#7
londiste
Vya DomusIt's always risky to make stupid claims on tech related subjects because they can easily be analyzed later. People still remember when Gates said you'll never need more than 640K, so yeah, people don't forget.
What makes the claim stupid? If one wants to take offense they can but I though this was quite a clever poke.
Posted on Reply
#8
Arumio
AxilomXWasn't it 5 years ago that Intel criticizied AMD for their "Glued together" architecture?
wasn't that said about Intel a long time ago, back in the days of the Pentium D?
Posted on Reply
#9
Vya Domus
londisteI though this was quite a clever poke.
Maybe it would have been clever if they stuck with it and never used glue themselves.
Posted on Reply
#10
Richards
Its not glue its advanced packaging
Posted on Reply
#11
Mistral
They couldn't make hdf work so they settled for mdf?
Posted on Reply
#12
londiste
Vya DomusMaybe it would have been clever if they stuck with it and never used glue themselves.
As pointed out a number of times before - Intel had used glue quite a bit earlier than the presentation in question. Pentium D is usually the notable example, it is from ca 2005.
Posted on Reply
#14
johnspack
Here For Good!
Nah, just need to be old... and how soon they forget the core 2 quad....
Posted on Reply
#15
Vya Domus
londisteIntel had used glue quite a bit earlier than the presentation in question. Pentium D is usually the notable example, it is from ca 2005.
I know and it makes it even worse that they tried to make of it.
Posted on Reply
#16
enzolt
To be fair, there are a lot of younger posters here who probably grew consciousness when AMD was in their low point with Bulldozer.
They have no idea the history behind Presler or Kentfield.
MistralThey couldn't make hdf work so they settled for mdf?
Whats HDF? MDF is modular die fabric.
Posted on Reply
#17
Unregistered
enzoltTo be fair, there are a lot of younger posters here who probably grew consciousness when AMD was in their low point with Bulldozer.
They have no idea the history behind Presler or Kentfield.


Whats HDF? MDF is modular die fabric.
MDF is medium density fibreboard
Posted on Edit | Reply
#18
enzolt
TiggerMDF is medium density fibreboard
Hahaha I know
Posted on Reply
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