We haven’t heard much about Intel’s next-generation HEDT lineup in a while, but the Sapphire Rapids-AP CPU family appears to be coming later this year.
Sapphire Rapids-AP (Intel Next-Gen)Will Include Golden Cove Cores
In recent years, there hasn’t been much action in the HEDT CPU market. AMD’s final Threadripper family was released in early 2020, but Intel’s 10th Generation Core-X series was released in 2019. AMD’s Threadripper ‘WX’ components have seen some use in workstations, although they have received little attention since the Zen 2 parts were announced in early 2021.
That could change later this year when AMD and Intel unveil their next-generation HEDT lineups, which will incorporate Golden Cove and Zen 3 cores.
YuuKi AnS recently pointed out that the blue team is preparing its next-generation HEDT CPU family, called ‘Sapphire Rapids-AP,’ in a series of tweets on the newly disclosed Intel Sapphire Rapids-SP Xeon CPU scores. This is significant because the ‘AP’ name was earlier reserved for Cascade Lake-AP components that used an MCM approach. The Sapphire Rapids-SP series already offers an MCM design that includes four tiles with up to 15 cores each (14 cores activated). In certain ways, Sapphire Rapids-SP can be considered ‘AP’ variants, while Intel appears to have decided to market their HEDT range as ‘AP’ rather than ‘X’. There aren’t many details at this time, but the line will be aimed at the high-end desktop market and will launch in late 2022.
Xeon Workstation Platform – Intel Sapphire Rapids
Intel also wants to categorize its Sapphire Rapids HEDT platform by two types: workstations and mainstream workstations. The standard workstation platform will replace the Ice Lake-W Xeon CPUs, which launched in 2020. Up to 56 Golden Cove cores and as little as 12 cores with a boost frequency of more than 4 GHz will be included. The lineup will be diverse, with multiple SKUs and TDPs ranging from 50W to 350W for flagship models. There are a variety of on-chip accelerators on the Sapphire Rapids HEDT CPUs, although it is uncertain if they will be functioning or deactivated in the final versions.