Intel cancels part of its next-gen Diamond Rapids Xeon lineup, report claims — Xeon 7 will drop models with 8 memory DIMMs to focus only on 16-channel CPUs for extra memory throughput

Things are heating up again on the server side of CPUs, with both Intel and AMD gunning for the crown. Just yesterday, we covered Granite Rapids-WS, the next launch in the Xeon series, and today we have confirmation from Intel on how Diamond Rapids will shape up. Xeon 7 was originally set to include two lineups: one with 8-channel memory and one with 16-channel, but the former has now been cancelled. Diamond Rapids will therefore be exclusively 16-channel.

Speaking to ServeTheHome, an Intel spokesperson clarified: "We have removed Diamond Rapids 8CH from our roadmap. We're simplifying the Diamond Rapids platform with a focus on 16-channel processors and extending its benefits down the stack to support a range of unique customers and their use cases."

The existing Granite Rapids server chips, along with AMD's competing EPYC Turin lineup, top out at 12-channel memory, which will be upgraded to 16-channel with next-gen products from both companies. Previously, when we first reported on Diamond Rapids earlier this year, both the 8CH and 16CH options were said to be on the table. Now, the pivot to only 16-channel memory could result in improved performance, with approximately 1.6 TB/s of memory bandwidth — up from ~844 GB/s.

Those numbers are achieved not just through more DDR5 channels, but also because Diamond Rapids is tipped to ship with 2nd-generation MRDIMM (Multiplexer Rank Dual Inline Memory Modules) that will boost the maximum memory speed from 8,800 MT/s on current-gen Xeon 6 to a whopping 12,800 MT/s. Xeon 7 will also use the new LGA9324 socket, and top out at 192 cores distributed across 4x 48-core compute tiles. Keep in mind that these cores are still not hyper-threaded; that deficiency will be addressed with Coral Rapids afterward.

In the meantime, Diamond Rapids will go up against AMD's EPYC Venice lineup next year, which is rumored to feature up to 256 cores built on the 2nm Zen 6 microarchitecture, so Intel may lose core-count parity, at least on the server side. The now-cancelled 8CH Diamond Rapids would've succeeded existing 8CH Xeon 6 6700P/6500P SKUs that are designed to be cheaper, but cost-effectiveness often goes out the window when it comes to scaling data centers, especially these days.

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