With Granite Rapids, Intel is back to trading blows with AMD

Intel has launched its Granite Rapids Xeon processors, marking a significant advancement in its competition with AMD. The new 6900P processor family features up to 128 performance cores, 256 threads, and clock speeds reaching 3.9 GHz, bringing it to parity with AMD's Bergamo platform. Granite Rapids also boasts improved memory bandwidth, achieving between 614 GBps and 844 GBps, surpassing AMD's Epyc 4 platform. The architecture utilizes Intel's Redwood Cove cores and introduces a heterogeneous chiplet design, integrating memory controllers directly into compute dies. This design aims to reduce latency and enhance performance, particularly in high-performance computing (HPC) and AI applications, where Granite Rapids shows performance improvements of 2.31x to 3.08x over its predecessor, Emerald Rapids. Despite higher power consumption, Intel claims a 1.9x improvement in performance-per-watt at typical utilization levels. The Granite Rapids lineup currently includes five SKUs, with more Xeon 6 processors expected in the coming months, including the 6700P series, which will cater to memory-intensive applications.

- Intel's Granite Rapids Xeon processors aim to compete directly with AMD's offerings.

- The new processors feature up to 128 cores and significantly improved memory bandwidth.

- Performance gains in HPC and AI applications are notable, with improvements over previous generations.

- The architecture employs a heterogeneous chiplet design for better performance and reduced latency.

- More Xeon 6 processors are set to be released in the near future, expanding Intel's offerings.