Intel today unveiled the new Xeon 6 processors with Efficiency cores (E-cores). These processors promise a triple-fold performance jump over the previous generation and even greater efficiency gains for 5G core applications.
The Xeon 6 line is now joined by the E-core variants 6700E (144 cores) and 6900E (288 cores), as well as more Xeons with P-cores. The 6700 and 6500 also appear, featuring up to 86 cores. While the E-core options run in up to two sockets, the new P-core chips can support up to 8 sockets.
With this, Intel has an asset that AMD has left out. During the announcement, Intel spokesmen emphasized that there is still a real market for as many sockets as this, for example, allows for the maximizing of memory bandwidth or I/O capacity. Note that a single socket allows 136 PCIe lanes with Xeon 6.
Faster market adoption
Alex Quach, Intel vice president and general manager of the Wireline and Core Network Division, emphasizes that partners have already validated the Xeon 6 processors with E-cores. The introduction of these new chips therefore won’t be much of a hassle.
The bottom line is that Intel promises 50 percent higher AI performance with Xeon 6 versus AMD Epyc 9005 with only one-third the number of cores. Average performance is also 40 percent better than with Xeon 5, while Intel anticipates up to 50 percent lower TCO and still better performance versus the Epyc 9005.
Ethernet innovations
In addition to the new Xeon 6 processors, Intel is also introducing two new Ethernet product lines: the Intel Ethernet E830 and E610 Controllers and Network Adapters. These solutions are designed for various applications, from conventional enterprise workloads to AI. As usual, Ethernet is a jack-of-all-trades, just like Xeons.
The new Ethernet controllers offer flexible port configurations and advanced security features. The E830 series is optimized for virtualized workloads, while the E610 series focuses on control plane operations with enhanced management capabilities and energy efficiency.
Also read: Intel under pressure from AMD Epyc 5 as it unveils Xeon 6 chips