Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H "Sapphire Rapids" Performance Benchmarks
It was a bit interesting that both AMD's Titanite 2P reference server for Genoa as well as Intel's Sapphire Rapids reference server platform Eagle Stream were both manufactured by Quanta Computer.
From the exterior both the AMD Titanite and Intel Eagle Stream reference servers look quite similar and even the heatsink designs and cooling are more similar than we have seen in the past from AMD and Intel reference servers each generation.
The processors tested for this launch-day Sapphire Rapids comparison with the Xeon Platinum 8490H included the:
- AMD EPYC 7713
- AMD EPYC 7763
- AMD EPYC 7773X
- AMD EPYC 9374F
- AMD EPYC 9554
- AMD EPYC 9654
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8362
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8380
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H
All of the processors were tested in both single and dual socket configurations. Each processor was running at its maximum rated frequency and memory channel configuration and using backed by Micron 9300 series NVMe storage. Additional hardware details in the system table.
Per my usual bleeding-edge software look, this round of benchmarking was conducted using Ubuntu 22.10 with the Linux 6.0 kernel. For those wondering about Ubuntu LTS performance, RHEL / AlmaLinux, and other Linux distributions like Clear Linux on Sapphire Rapids, as usual there will be a follow-up article looking at the Xeon Platinum 8490H performance across a range of Linux environments (and BSDs too if that goes well). GCC 12.2 was the default code compiler used across the board. All processors were tested with the "performance" CPU frequency scaling governor on Linux 6.0.
During the benchmarking process the CPU(s) package power consumption was also monitored and recorded using the exposed RAPL interfaces. There are also performance-per-dollar metrics as well: for Ice Lake and Milan(X) using the latest pricing available for NewEgg as easy reference. The Sapphire Rapids and Genoa pricing was based off each vendor's suggested list pricing for not otherwise having any listings yet at the major Internet retailers.
Let's go forth and see how the Sapphire Rapids performance is looking compared to prior generation Ice Lake and then AMD's Genoa and Milan(X) server processors on Ubuntu Linux.