Revision for “Detailed Specifications of the “Ice Lake SP” Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family CPUs” created on April 11, 2021 @ 14:55:27
Detailed Specifications of the "Ice Lake SP" Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family CPUs
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<em>This article provides in-depth discussion and analysis of the 10nm Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family (formerly codenamed "Ice Lake-SP" or "Ice Lake Scalable Processor"). These processors replace the previous 14nm "Cascade Lake-SP" microarchitecture and are available for sale as of April 6, 2021.</em>
The "Ice Lake SP" CPUs are the 3rd generation of Intel’s Xeon Scalable Processor family. This generation brings new features, increased performance, and new server/workstation platforms. The Xeon ‘Ice Lake SP’ CPUs cannot be installed into previous-generation systems. Those considering a new deployment are encouraged to <a href="https://www.microway.com/contact/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">review with one of our experts</a>. <h2>Highlights of the features in Xeon Scalable Processor Family "Ice Lake SP" CPUs include:</h2> <a name="specialization"></a> Further, Intel continues to add new specialized CPU models that are optimized for particular workloads and environments. Many of these specialized SKUs are not relevant to readers here, but we summarize them briefly: For those who prefer to see all details in one chart, Intel has provided a summary of all of the Xeon 3rd-generation CPUs (including both the ‘Ice Lake’ CPUs covered here, as well as the ‘Cooper Lake’ CPUs which provide 4-socket and 8-socket capability). The left-most column shows ‘Cooper Lake’ CPU SKUs. The middle and right columns summarize the ‘Ice Lake SP’ CPU SKUs covered in this article. <h3>Four Xeon CPU specializations relevant to HPC & AI use cases</h3> <h3>Summary of Xeon "Ice Lake-SP" CPU tiers</h3> <a name="performance"></a> "AVX-512
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX-512.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX-512.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU theoretical GFLOPS performance with AVX-512 instructions" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13585" /></a>
"AVX2
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX2.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX2.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU theoretical GFLOPS performance with AVX2 instructions" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13586" /></a> In the charts above, the <em>shaded/colored bars</em> indicate the expected performance range for each CPU model. The performance is a range rather than a specific value, because CPU clock frequencies scale up and down on a second-by-second basis. The precise achieved performance depends upon a variety of factors including temperature, power envelope, type of cooling technology, the load on each CPU core, and the type(s) of CPU instructions being issued to each core. The first tab shows performance when using Intel’s AVX-512 instructions with FMA. Note that only a small set of codes will be capable of issuing exclusively AVX-512 FMA instructions (e.g., HPL LINPACK). Most applications issue a mix of instructions and will achieve lower than peak FLOPS. Further, applications which have not been re-compiled with an appropriate compiler will not include AVX-512 instructions and thus achieve lower performance. Computational applications which do not utilize AVX-512 instructions will most likely utilize AVX2 instructions (as shown in the second tab with <em>AVX2 Instruction performance</em>. <a name="prices"></a> <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Prices.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Prices.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU prices" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13638" /></a> As shown in the above plot, the CPUs in this article have been sorted by tier and by price. Most HPC users are expected to select CPU models from the Gold Xeon 6300-series. These models provide close to peak performance for a price around $3,000 per processor. Certain specialized applications will leverage the Platinum Xeon 8300-series To ease comparisons, all of the plots in this article are ordered to match the above plot. Keep this pricing in mind as you review this article and plan your system architecture. <a name="specifications"></a> "CPU
Most HPC groups will find that processors with 12 to 32 CPU cores fit within their budget. However, the 36-, 38-, and 40-core models are only available within the Platinum tier and will be at a higher cost than most groups would consider cost-effective. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Number_of_Cores.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Number_of_Cores-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU core counts and capabilities" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13643" /></a> "CPU
The relatively standard base clock speeds of this CPU family demonstrate that this launch focuses most on overall throughput, as there are few options with high base CPU frequencies. There are a few CPU options with 3+ GHz base frequencies, but most models prefer higher core counts with more modest clock speeds. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Base_Clock_Speeds.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Base_Clock_Speeds-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP processor clock speeds" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13644" /></a> "Memory
Memory performance of Intel Xeon "Ice Lake-SP" is fairly straightforward, with the Silver CPUs providing a lower speed than the Gold and Platinum models. Demanding users should consider the 6300-series as a minimum in order to ensure memory operates at the maximum speed of 3200MT/s. The amount of memory bandwidth available per CPU core is an important factor, but is essentially a function of the number of cores. Users planning to run on CPUs with higher core counts need to ensure that each core won’t be starved for data.
It is important to note that some system platforms support two memory slots per memory channel (a total of 32 DIMMs in a dual-socket system). If both memory slots are populated with memory, the slots may run at a slower speed (depending upon the platform) – this is simply an electrical/signaling limit. "AVX
As shown, all of the ‘Ice Lake SP’ Xeon CPUs provide two AVX-512 units per processor core. This is an important change compared to both of the previous generations of Intel Xeon Scalable processors. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Number_of_AVX-512_Units.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Number_of_AVX-512_Units-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU number of AVX-512 math units" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13646" /></a> "L3
The "Ice Lake-SP" CPUs have been designed to offer at least 1.5MB of L3 cache per processor core. As shown below, there are a few models which feature a larger quantity of L3 per core, but only a modest increase. Remember that each core also has 1.25MB of private L2 cache. In this architecture, the L3 cache is designed as a fallback for data that spills out of L2. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_L3_Cache_Size.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_L3_Cache_Size-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP L3 cache size" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13647" /></a> "UPI"
The UPI capabilities of these CPUs are similar to the previous generations. Each CPU supports two or three UPI links operating at 10.4GT/s or 11.2GT/s. Only the Xeon ‘Gold’ and ‘Platinum’ tiers (5300-, 6300-, and 8300-series) support the higher number of UPI links, which allows greater connectivity between sockets. Dual-socket systems are the most popular configuration for HPC, but not all dual-socket platforms support all three UPI links – review your proposed system architecture. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_UPI_Performance.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_UPI_Performance-680×653.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP UPI performance" width="680" height="653" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13648" /></a> <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Number_of_UPI_Links.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_Number_of_UPI_Links-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP number of UPI links supported per CPU" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13649" /></a> "Socket
Although dual-socket systems are the most common for HPC & AI workloads, there are use cases requiring larger or smaller numbers of CPUs. The plot below compares the various CPU socket counts supported by this processor line-up (supporting either one or two sockets). Workloads needing more than two sockets will need to look to other product lines. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Supported_Socket_Count.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_Supported_Socket_Count-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU supported socket counts" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13650" /></a> "TDP"
Although there are still processor models in the same power range as previous generations, most models feature TDPs above 140 Watts. More than half of the models require 205+ Watts, and several models consume 250 Watts or more. HPC users must be certain that the systems they select have received thorough thermal validation. Systems which run warm <em>will</em> suffer lower performance. In particular, care is recommended with higher clock speed CPUs (2.5+ GHz) which may reduce their clock speeds more aggressively to remain within thermal limits. <a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_TDP_Wattage.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_CPU_TDP_Wattage-680×598.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP TDP power requirements" width="680" height="598" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-13651" /></a> In addition to the specifications called out above, technical readers should note that the "Ice Lake SP" CPU architecture inherits most of the architectural design of the previous "Cascade Lake-SP" architecture, including the mesh processor layout, redesigned L2/L3 caches, greater UPI connectivity between CPU sockets, and improvements to the processor frequency speeds/turbo. <a name="recommended-cpus"></a> "2.5+GHz
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5Ghz_CPU_Number_of_Cores.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5Ghz_CPU_Number_of_Cores.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU core counts (for models with 2.5+GHz clock speed)" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13590" /></a>
"AVX-512
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX-512.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX-512.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU throughput with AVX-512 instructions (models with 2.5+GHz clock speeds)" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13591" /></a>
"AVX2
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX2.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Theoretical_Peak_Performance_AVX2.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP CPU throughput with AVX2 instructions (models with 2.5+GHz clock speeds)" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13592" /></a>
"2.5+GHz
<a href="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Cost-Effectiveness__Including-Server.png"><img src="https://www.microway.com/wp-content/uploads/Xeon_Ice-Lake-SP_2.5GHz_Cost-Effectiveness__Including-Server.png" alt="Comparison chart of Intel Xeon Ice Lake SP cost-effectiveness (models with 2.5+GHz clock speeds)" width="750" height="660" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-13593" /></a>
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