EK, the leading liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is announcing the availability of two high-performance liquid cooling solutions for the Intel "Sierra Forest" processor family. EK-Pro CPU WB 7529 and 7529 Rack water blocks are specially designed to cool the Sierra Forest CPUs, a codename for Intel's first-generation E-core Xeon server processors based on the LGA 7529 socket. These CPUs are expected to launch in the first half of 2024 and feature up to 288 cores per socket for 576 cores per server. Naturally, with such a high core count, liquid cooling presents a sensible solution to heat management.

The Sierra Forest architecture design aims to achieve ultra-high core counts for greater compute density that would benefit cloud and HPC server applications. However, with greater compute density comes greater requirements for cooling. Even with the E-cores that use less power per core, their staggering density in the CPU will indeed present unique challenges for traditional air cooling.

A set of detailed photos has been uploaded to a blog on the Chinese Bilibili site, and the subject matter is an engineering sample of a motherboard that features Intel's next generation LGA 7529 socket. Specifications and photos relating to this platform have cropped up in the past, but the latest leak offers many new tidbits of information. The Bilibili blogger placed a Sapphire Rapids Xeon Processor on top of the the new socket, and this provides an interesting point of reference - it demonstrates the expansive physical footprint that the fifth-generation platform occupies on the board.

This year's Sapphire Rapids LGA 4677 (Socket E) is already considered to be a sizeable prospect - measuring at 61 × 82 mm. The upcoming Mountain Stream platform (LGA 7529) is absolutely huge in comparison, with eyeball estimates placing it possessing rough dimensions (including the retention arm) of 66 × 92.5 mm. The fifth generation platform is designed to run Intel's Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest CPUs - this family of Xeons featuring scalable microarchitecture is expected to launch in 2024. The code name "Avenue City" has been given to a reference platform that features a dual socket configuration.