Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H "Sapphire Rapids" Performance Benchmarks
GROMACS remains an interesting CPU benchmark for HPC even with there being a oneAPI + SYCL back-end now so it can enjoy even greater performance with the likes of Intel's Data Center GPU Max Series. When looking at the uplift here from the EPYC 7763 to EPYC 7773X, GROMACS has been one of the real-world workloads that benefits a lot from the larger cache and thus should also be an interesting target for Sapphire Rapids SKUs with HBM2e memory. As for the Xeon Platinum 8490H, its performance was much better generationally over the Xeon Platinum 8380 though coming in short of the 64-core EPYC 9554 and 96-core EPYC 9654 processors. Going from the dual socket Xeon Platinum 8380 to dual socket Xeon Platinum 8490H was 1.67x the performance -- or a single 8490H delivered roughly the same performance as two 8380 models.
In both 1P and 2P configurations, the Xeon Platinum 8490H was pulling more power than any of the other tested processors. A single 8490H was pulling 315 Watts on average during the GROMACS test with a peak of 376 Watts compared to the EPYC 9654 with a 267 Watt average or 344 Watt peak for this benchmark. The Xeon Platinum 8380 Ice Lake CPU meanwhile had a 250 Watt average and 290 Watt peak.
When calculating the performance-per-Watt, this Sapphire Rapids SKU was coming out just ahead of the Milan(X) processors but behind the Genoa processors. At least over the Xeon Platinum 8380 was a 35% improvement with the 8490H.
On a performance-per-dollar basis at $17,000 for this flagship SKU, it comes out in last.
With the Graph500 HPC benchmark it showed much uplift generationally from Ice Lake to Sapphire Rapids: A single 8490H was 1.13x the speed of dual 8380 processors or 1.58x the speed when comparing 1P-vs-1P generationally. While the Xeon Platinum 8490H is now well ahead of its positioning with Ice Lake, it did come up short of the Genoa top-end SKUs and even the EPYC 9374F 32-core high frequency part in a 2P match0-up.
Or when looking at the max TEPS, the Xeon Platinum 8490H 2P was right ahead of the 9374F 2P but behind a single EPYC 9654 processor.
With the HPCG benchmark was a 51% improvement generationally from the 2P Ice Lake to Sapphire Rapids configuration.