Intel has new advancements in the field of processor technology for servers with Skylake SP processor. The significant difference between the currently available technology and this Skylake SP processor lies in its architecture that uses communication between the cores using a mesh topology instead of the ring. That methodology leads to qualify this processor Skylake SP processor as a family of scalable Xeon processors.
Mesh Network Between Cores
Currently, the cores of Intel processors are all connected through a ring bus. Intel has changed this topology with the new communications networks such as the mesh. In which messages communicate to a destination core hop by hop.
It is the secret of the scalable capabilities of this architecture. Because you could theoretically add an infinite number of cores without too much damage to performance or latency in communication between cores. Also, in this arrangement, each core receives its cache. In this way, the chips with 28 physical cores or 56 logical threads come out with the multihull.
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The other point on this architecture which improves performance is that it is compatible with the AVX-512 instructions, That is now 512 bits, which allows improving the performance in the particular type of computational loads.
The size of these chips is large, and the chip is in the form of an unencapsulated chip. Also, that has a size of 677 mm2, compared to the 456 mm2 of the Broadwell-EP, and the 780 mm2 of the four chips that include each Epyc processor Of AMD.
Low Power Consumption
The TDP goes from 70 W to 205 W according to the model. And the frequency reaches 3.6 GHz, which is the most powerful one to date. The cache reaches 38.5 MB, and the maximum amount of onboard memory is 1.5 TB. They use DDR4-2666 of four, six or eight channels according to model. That can manage up to 48 PCIe 3.0 tracks.
Skylake SP Detailed Specifications
The division of the processors comes with four families: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. These processors can be used on motherboards with up to eight sockets, using Intel’s OmniPath interconnect. They work with the C620 family chipsets, which allow up to 14 SATA3, 10 USB 3.0, QuickAssist encryption and compression technology. And support management of up to four 10 Gigabit Ethernet links.
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Intel compares the performance of AMD’s Epyc 7601 with its Xeon 8160 and 8180, with a clear victory under its tests for its new processors Skylake SP. The Epyc 7601 has 64 logical cores, the Xeon 8160 is with 48 logical cores, and the Xeon 8180 is with 56 logical cores. In this case, Intel wins by the power with fewer cores without distinctive energy consumption. The AMD has a TDP of 180 W, while those of Intel has 150 W and 205 W.
Skylake SP Low Price
The complete listing of Skylake SP processors is in the official documents. The subtle and significant difference is that the Epyc 7601 costs 4200 $, competing with the Xeon 8160 that costs around 4700 $. But the Xeon 8180 costs 10,000 $.
Skylake SP is not in competition with AMD Epyc
I think the correct use of the language is necessary because there are media that say that “Intel responds to AMD with the Skylake SP,” which seems to me a foolishness. Managers do not get the paper a good morning, look at the news that AMD has presented an Epyc line of processors for data centers. And tell their subordinates to create an architecture that surpasses it in three months.
Apparently, Intel has been developing this design for years. And in fact, part of it is based on Xeon Phy Knights Landing, but with substantial improvements like mesh topology. From here it will be nice to see where Intel is evolving, and how the partners of Intel and AMD respond to the proposal of both companies. It is easy to mislead the public with great words, but the professionals of the business world are harder to deceive them.
Via: Hot Hardware , AnandTech
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