AWS is running a 96-core, 192-thread, custom Xeon server

Updated Amazon Web Services has started offering a cloudy server packing a civilization fourth-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor and boasting 96 cores aliases 192 vCPUs.

It's almost surely not a colossal spot that features 36 much cores than nan mightiest Xeon Intel lists for waste to nan nationalist – nan 60-core Platinum 8490H – and alternatively a 48-core processor successful a two-socket server.

Intel has shape doing civilization jobs that hit nan kit of its charismatic merchandise list: we erstwhile spotted Oracle pinch a Xeon that outpaced processors sold to different customers.

Whatever nan kit wrong nan box, news of it emerged successful a Wednesday post detailing nan newly-available M7i-Flex and M7i lawsuit types disposable successful nan Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2).

That station lists an lawsuit type called nan "m7i.48xlarge" that offers 192 vCPUs, and AWS's CPU options page lists nan lawsuit arsenic offering 96 default CPU cores.

We've asked AWS and Intel to item nan spec of nan silicon, because a azygous processor pinch 96 cores would beryllium good beyond what Chipzilla has spoken astir successful public.

And yes, it almost goes without saying: immoderate non-Intel spot designers person single-socket processors pinch much than 96 cores. For instance: Ampere pinch up to 192 Arm-compatible cores per package.

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Whatever's wrong nan servers moving M7i-Flex and M7i lawsuit types, AWS claims they "offer nan champion capacity among comparable Intel processors successful nan unreality – up to 15 percent faster than Intel processors utilized by different unreality providers."

The M7I lawsuit is suggested arsenic suitable for ample exertion servers and databases, gaming servers, CPU-based instrumentality learning, and video streaming. The M7I-Flex are touted arsenic suited to web and exertion servers, virtual desktops, batch processing, micro-services, databases, and endeavor applications.

The Flex instances are said to connection 5 percent amended price/performance and 5 percent little prices than nan vanilla M7I. AWS besides says applications moving connected erstwhile generations of its wide intent instances tin move to M7I "without having to make changes to your exertion aliases your workload."

Bare metallic M7I instances are successful nan works, pinch either 96 aliases 192 vCPUs.

Whether aliases not Intel has cooked AWS a 96-core single-socket Xeon, this civilization occupation is important because moreover arsenic AWS promotes its ain Arm-powered Graviton CPUs that it's moreover asked for its ain Xeon shows it intelligibly still sees a domiciled for full-fat x86 processors.

Another is that nan large fourth-gen Xeons sells for $10,000 aliases much apiece. As AWS buys successful large numbers, Chipzilla whitethorn good person a bully small earner connected its hands here. As Intel deals pinch a equilibrium sheet balancing act, news that 1 of nan planet's apical CPU buyers has collaborated connected very powerful civilization kit is surely a fillip. ®

Updated to adhd astatine 0015 UTC, August 7

A scholar took nan M7I instances for a spin, queried nan instrumentality to study its CPU type, and told The Reg it is simply a two-socket instrumentality packing a 48-core Xeon Platinum 8488C processor.

Intel's database of fourth-gen Xeon Scalable processors includes nan 56-core 8480+, and we've spotted nan 8480c pinch nan aforesaid halfway count. But Chipzilla's tract doesn't mention nan 8488C.