Intel jumps into the 3D V-Cache race, but with a focus on servers

Intel has made the leap to join the trend of 3D stacked memories, although its initial focus is not the consumer market, but the professional sector. The technology 3D V-Cache, known mainly thanks to AMD, has been key to improving the performance of its processors Ryze in the field of video games and other applications. However, Intel has decided to follow a different path, betting on implementing 3D stacked cache memory in its Xeon processors, intended for servers and workstations.

There has long been speculation that Intel would look to implement a similar solution to compete with Ryzen processors. AMD, but it seems that Its strategy prioritizes the business sector over domestic consumption.While AMD has expanded its 3D V-Cache to gaming-oriented products, Intel has made it clear that its next advances in this field will be reserved for more specific workloads, such as those handled by high-performance data center solutions.

Xeon processors with 3D V-Cache: Intel's bet for 2025

Recently, Intel has confirmed through Florian Maislinger, its technology communications manager, that its next generation of processors Xeon Clearwater Forest will feature this 3D stacked cache technology. This addition will be available from 2025 and is expected to bring great benefits in technical workloads such as scientific simulations, data analysis and other tasks where the cache is crucial for performance.

As detailed by the brand representatives, These new processors will be designed to compete with AMD's EPYC Genoa-X and Turin-X, which have already proven to be highly efficient in this type of business applications. Like AMD, Intel is seeking to improve performance by an optimization of the L3 cache, a key component in repetitive tasks and massive calculations where Reducing access to RAM means a noticeable increase in processing speed.

Why Intel has no plans for 3D V-Cache in the consumer market?

While AMD has achieved great success with its processors Ryzen 7 9800X3D and its 3D V-Cache, Intel seems to have a different view of the consumer market. According to Maislinger, Gaming and the segment of high-performance processors for home consumption are not a priority for the company at this time. While it is undeniable that this technology has a positive impact on gaming by dramatically increasing the amount of data quickly accessible from the CPU, Intel prefers to focus on sectors that offer greater growth potential, such as servers and data centers.

This doesn't mean that Intel is completely out of the gaming market or that it doesn't see the value in 3D stacked cache technology for these purposes. It's just that its current strategy is to prioritize enterprise applications, where the demand for processing power improvements is even greater. According to its statements, it's likely to take several years for this technology to reach consumer processors, possibly until 2025 or even later.

Furthermore, Intel believes that the server and data center market offers a greater economic return compared to the gaming market, which they describe as niche compared to the volume of business generated by their Xeon processors in business environments. For this reason, its commitment to implementing 3D V-Cache will focus first on these sectors.

Innovations in processor design with 3D V-Cache

Intel's use of 3D stacked memory technology has several technical implications. In the case of Xeon processors, the idea is to have a modular design in which each Base Tile (the part of the processor that hosts the main cores) will be directly connected to a stacked cache, which will form a “block” of high performance memory integrated into the entire chip architecture.

We have already seen this approach implemented by AMD in its series Ryzen 7 9800X3D, where the stacked memory 3D V-Cache It is located directly on the CCD (central CPU die), thus improving the ability to solve specific tasks that depend heavily on having the data stored as close as possible to the computing cores.

Intel hopes this design will allow it to close the gap with AMD in terms of performance in cache-sensitive tasks. However, its main focus is on improving the efficiency of these processors for critical applications, such as analysis of IA, scientific simulations and big data servers.

the management of the Cache on Intel systems it will not be exactly the same as on the Ryze from AMD, but it will have a similar approach in terms of concept. The key for Intel is that the Forevos Direct 3D system will link the different CPU and cache tiles, providing enormous processing power to these chips, especially in intensive usage scenarios.

Although AMD's approach with its 3D V-Cache has proven to be effective in the field of video games, the business market is much broader and represents an area where Intel has significant growth opportunities.

The race to implement advanced technologies in CPU architecture continues, but each company is pursuing a different strategy. While AMD dominates the gaming arena, Intel seems to have decided to prioritize the professional market with solutions that, while not seen on home users' desktops in the near term, will have a significant impact on the servers and data centers of the future.