Intel should not launch Ice Lake-SP

Low yields and a regression at most thing

Aug 3, 2020 by

Intel LogoLast week we told you about the clocks for Ice Lake-SP, now lets take a deeper look at how well it will perform. SemiAccurate has a few more data points to add, and the numbers paint a clear picture of Ice Lake-SP’s performance.

OK lets get this out in the open right away, Intel’s Ice Lake-SP CPU is a dog, it loses at just about everything but a few benchmarks that heavily use it’s already deprecated AI instructions. For anything real world it is badly outclassed by both AMD’s and Intel’s own offerings, at times by multiples not percentages. Intel should simply not launch it, the damage it will do to their reputation, customer relations, and investor confidence far outweigh the meager marketing halo they will attempt to grab.

Lets take a detailed look at the results. How does Ice fare in absolute performance? On power use? Performance per Watt (PPW)? Single threaded performance? Against Intel’s 14nm products? Against AMD’s Rome? Against AMD’s upcoming Milan? We can answer some of these with direct data and others with a little more anecdotal evidence. In any case a clear picture emerges and it is woeful for Intel’s chances in servers for the next two years.

Note: The following is analysis for professional level subscribers only.

Disclosures: Charlie Demerjian and Stone Arch Networking Services, Inc. have no consulting relationships, investment relationships, or hold any investment positions with any of the companies mentioned in this report.

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Google+ profileMy LinkedIn profile

Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate