Intel is working on two workstation platforms based on its Xeon W ‘Granite Rapids-W’ processors aimed at ‘mainstream’ and ‘expert’ workstations, according to Jaykihn, a hardware leaker who tends to have access to Intel’s plans. The platforms will feature different numbers of general-purpose high-performance cores, memory subsystems, and the number of PCIe lanes but will be based on the Intel W890 chipset.
Intel’s Xeon W ‘GNR-W’ processors will likely belong to the Xeon W-2600 and Xeon W-3600-series products unless Intel changes its nomenclature. Intel’s Xeon W-2600 CPUs will target ‘mainstream’ workstations and feature a quad-channel DDR5 memory controller as well as up to 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes, whereas the Xeon W-3600 CPUs will aim high-end ‘expert’ workstations and will get an eight-channel DDR5 memory subsystem as well as up to 128 PCIe 5.0 lanes. The number of PCIe 5.0 lanes supported by the Xeon W-3600 ‘expert’ platform will differentiate the high-end desktop Xeon W9 CPU from the Xeon 6 R1S, aimed at specialized server applications.
Both platforms will be based on Intel’s W890 chipset, which uses eight PCIe 4.0 lanes to connect to CPUs and supports 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes to enable platform connectivity.
The new Xeon W ‘Granite Rapids-W’ CPUs will feature the company’s latest high-performance cores used in Xeon 6 6700P and Xeon 6 6900P processors, though the number of cores will differ for Xeon W-2600 and Xeon W-3600 CPUs. The exact number of cores featured by these products remains to be seen. Keeping in mind that Intel has silicon that packs up to 128 high-performance cores, the company can offer something with a very high core count to better compete against AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, but since we are talking about workstations, it needs to have a balance between core count, frequency, and power consumption.
The leak about Intel’s Xeon W ‘Granite Rapids W’ comes days after InstLatX64 discovered Intel’s official mentions of Granite Rapids-W, Granite Rapids-E, and Granite Rapids-D processors. Considering that Intel has officially mentioned the new CPUs, expect them to hit the market sooner rather than later. Still, it remains to be seen when the company refreshed its workstation lineup with Sapphire Rapids-W Refresh CPUs only in the third quarter of last year.
