Intel Sapphire Rapids-AP: new Golden Cove HEDT CPU, 2022 launch rumor

AMD has been ripping up the HEDT processor market with its Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper CPUs, refreshed with the newer Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors... but where is Intel? Well, they're about to burst back onto the HEDT processor scene in a big way.

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Intel's next-gen Sapphire Rapids-AP Xeon CPUs will rock the company's new Golden Cove CPU cores, and could deploy as an MCM-based design. The current-gen Sapphire Rapids-SP processors use an MCM-based design, with 4 tiles and up to 15 cores (14 cores enabled) each.

The new Intel Sapphire Rapids-AP chips will offer up to 56 Golden Cove CPU cores, with as low as 12 of those CPU cores able to pump above 4GHz. There will be on-chip accelerators that are already on Sapphire Rapids HEDT processors, but we don't know if they will be working or not when the chips are deployed.

• Read more: Intel Xeon 'Sapphire Rapids' CPU delidded by OC and modder 'der8auer'

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We should see multiple SKUs of the new Sapphire Rapids-AP family of CPUs, with the Sapphire Rapids-112L XCC dies featuring a beautiful 112 PCIe 5.0 lanes, and will fill the new Workstation platform. THere's the Sapphire Rapids-SP MCC that will offer "medium core counts" with 8-channel DDR5 support, and then the entry-level Sapphire Rapids-SPR-MSWS mainstream workstation platform -- offering the same MCC die, but with a dropped-down 4-channel DDR5 memory controller.

There's also the new Sapphire Rapids Xeon Mainstream Workstation Platform, where we'll see up to 28-36 Golden Cove cores, with huge 4.5 to 5.0GHz clock speeds. We're looking at higher 300W TDPs, while flagship models could push 400W depending on final CPU clocks, and more.