Intel adds DDR5-8000 RDIMM support to Xeon processors

Intel has added native DDR5-8000 RDIMM support to Xeon 6+ ‘Clearwater Forest’ and Xeon 6 ‘Granite Rapids’ processors through a firmware-enabled update path. Microcode updates are being provided to server OEMs and server motherboard manufacturers, paired with UEFI firmware updates that enable DDR5-8000 speeds while staying within product warranty coverage.

The change allows end users to pair compatible platforms with 8000 MT/s RDIMMs that the processors now support natively. DDR5-8000 delivers a 25% bandwidth increase over DDR5-6400, which has served as the industry standard for DDR5-based processors for the past two years after DDR5-4800.

Xeon 6+ ‘Clearwater Forest’ and ‘Granite Rapids’ processors use 12-channel DDR5 memory interfaces, matching the latest AMD EPYC ‘Turin’ processors. Because ‘Turin’ natively supports DDR5-6400 RDIMMs, Intel is expected to gain an advantage in memory bandwidth, a key factor for high-core count processors.