Hardware and software for distributed and supercomputer systems

Review Article

Around the Conditional 4th Generation of Modern Server Processors AMD and Intel: their Microarchitecture and the Performance of the Corresponding Computing Systems

Mikhail Borisovich Kuzminsky

	Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of RAS, Moscow, Russia
	kus@free.net

Abstract. This review focuses on the microarchitecture and performance of Intel Xeon processors—4th-generation Scalable processors (with the Sapphire Rapids-SP microarchitecture, hereafter Xeon SPR), 5th-generation (Emerald Rapids-SP, hereafter Xeon EMR), and various classes of AMD EPYC processors based on the Zen 4 architecture—as well as computing systems based on them. Data is analyzed for Xeon SPR models (and Xeon SPR with HBM memory, i.e., Xeon Max), Xeon EMR, and AMD EPYC 9004 processors (although brief data on the EPYC 8004 and 4004 is also provided).

These processors are classified in this review as belonging to the 4th generation of Xeon and EPYC processors. Comparisons are also made with 3rd-generation Xeon Scalable Processors (Ice Lake-SP, hereafter referred to as Xeon ICL), Cooper Lake-SP, AMD EPYC with the Zen 3 (Milan) architecture, and occasionally with ARM processors and GPUs.

The software development kits (SDKs) for 4th-generation processors, which are crucial for the achieved performance, are briefly discussed. Due to the use of chiplets or HBM memory in the AMD and Intel processors under consideration, special attention is paid to the supported NUMA variants.

Hardware support for security features for virtualization tasks, which are now often used in high-performance computing (HPC), is also analyzed.

The performance data in the review covers a wide range of application areas typical for servers with these processors, but the primary focus is on HPC and, to a lesser extent, AI workloads.

The processors in question are analyzed from the perspective of building homogeneous or GPU-enabled heterogeneous servers and computing systems based on them (clusters and supercomputers).

Initial information on the latest Intel Xeon 6 Granite Rapids and AMD EPYC Zen 5 Turin processors, including initial performance data, is also analyzed.

General conclusions are drawn about the status and emerging development trends of these x86 processors. (Linked article texts in English and in Russian).

Keywords: x86, Zen 4, Genoa, Bergamo, Zen 5,Turin, Sapphire Rapids, Xeon Max, Emerald Rapids, Xeon 6, Granite Rapids, microarchitecture, performance, HPC, AI, supercomputers

MSC-2020 65Y05; 68M20

For citation: Mikhail B. Kuzminsky. Around the Conditional 4th Generation of Modern Server Processors AMD and Intel: their Microarchitecture and the Performance of the Corresponding Computing Systems. Program Systems: Theory and Applications, 2025, 16:5, pp. 43–514. (in Engl. In Russ.). https://psta.psiras.ru/2025/5_43-514.

Full text of bilingual article (PDF): https://psta.psiras.ru/read/psta2025_5_43-514.pdf (Clicking on the flag in the header switches the page language).

The article was submitted 31.05.2025; approved after reviewing 14.10.2023; accepted for publication 10.11.2025; published online 15.01.2026.