Specifications
The Xeon Platinum 8648 from the ‘Sapphire Rapids’ lineup features 48 cores / 96 threads. In the cache department, the CPU ships with 105MB of L3 Cache and has a TDP of 350W. The CPU was tested in a dual-socket configuration doubling the core/thread count.
Performance Metrics
Coming straight to the numbers from HXL, we see the 8648 score 1351 points in the single core test and 90411 points in multi-core testing. Being packed with 48 cores / 96 threads paired with the 10nm process node, this CPU packs a punch. This indeed is a bit slower than the MIlan CPUs from AMD, which score somewhere around ~95,000 points. However, the final clocks may boost this score making these CPUs on-par with AMD’s Milan. This is indeed a major step up from last-gen. Besides, the EPYC 7763 (Fastest Milan CPU) features 32 more cores.
V-Ray Testing
Moving onto V-Ray, the 8468 from team blue scores 85,766 vsamples. V-Ray states that the CPU is running in a 4-socket configuration but in reality this is a 2-socket setup. The clocks are rated a bit higher at 2.96GHz. To put that into perspective, this score is shy of the EPYC 7763 by around 10–12%.
Release Date
These Sapphire Rapids CPUs are planned for 2023. However, by then we will see AMD’s Genoa-X and Bergamo CPUs. In comparison to Milan and Milan-X, these CPUs do perform well. Although, a last-Gen CPU cannot possibly compete with a newer generation.
