Intel Xeon 'Granite Rapids' CPUs get major cache upgrade: top SKU now has 480MB of L3 cache

Intel is upping the L3 cache of its next-gen Xeon "Granite Rapids" CPUs with flagship SKUs featuring up to 480MB of L3 cache.

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Intel's current 5th Gen Xeon "Emerald Rapids" processors were launched in December 2023, with a 3x increase in cache with 320MB of L3 cache over the 105MB of L3 cache in previous-gen Xeon processors. The new 6th Gen Xeon "Granite Rapids" CPUs will be released in the second half of 2024 with up to 480MB of L3 cache, a 50% jump over the just-released Xeon "Emerald Rapids" processors.

The new information on boosted L3 cache amounts on Intel's next-gen Xeon CPUs is coming from a recent entry into the SDE 9.33.0 (Software Development Emulator) update. Intel lists up to 480MB of L3 cache on its next-gen Xeon "Granite Rapids" CPUs, which is a huge 50% jump over Emerald Rapids in the race to catch up with AMD and its continued dominance with its EPYC family of processors.

AMD's current EPYC 9004 standard CPU features up to 384MB of L3 cache, which is a 25% jump over existing Zen 4 processors since the company launched them back in early 2023. AMD also has its higher-end EPYC "Genoa-X" 3D V-Cache CPUs that have a mind-boggling and Intel-smashing 1152MB of L3 cache. Intel has absolutely nothing to compare with this, even with a next-gen Xeon CPU on the horizon.

• Read more: Intel 5th Gen Xeon 'Emerald Rapids' announced up to 64 cores, 128 threads CPU
• Read more: Intel Xeon 'Emerald Rapids' Xeon 8551C, 8558P CPUs teased... AMD EPYC will smash them easy

Intel will have an embedded 3D-stacked cache on future-generation Xeon CPUs, but we don't know if Granite Rapids will feature that or not just yet. I doubt it, but I'd like to be surprised by Intel and its fight against AMD and EPYC processors in the future.

• Emerald Rapids 64 Core - 320 MB L3 Cache
• Sapphire Rapids 60 Core - 112.5 MB L3 Cache
• AMD EPYC Genoa 96 Core - 384 MB L3 Cache
• AMD EPYC Genoa-X 96 Core - 1152 MB L3 Cache

AMD has its next-gen EPYC "Turin" CPUs in the oven right now, based on the next-gen Zen 5 core architecture that'll be released later this year. AMD is expected to throw even more cache into the party with Turin, so we should expect an L3 cache war in the coming months that I don't think Intel will be able to fight. AMD's next-gen EPYC "Turin" is going to be an absolute beast, and we can't wait.