Intel released the Xeon 600 for workstations—up to 86 cores, overclocking capability, and a price of up to $7,699

Intel returns to workstations: the new Granite Rapids‑WS processors (Xeon 600)

After almost three years of absence from the workstation segment, the company has re-entered the market with the Granite Rapids‑WS line, which Intel calls Xeon 600. Unlike the previous generation – Sapphire Rapids‑WS, where processors were split into the Xeon W‑2500 and W‑3500 subseries, all models now belong to a single series.

Where they’re already used
* Granite Rapids‑WS has been deployed in data centers (DCs) for about a year and a half.

* During that time AMD released Threadripper 9000 based on Zen 5, but Intel is not lagging: the Xeon 600 series includes 11 models, five of which are available in boxed form.

Dates and compatibility
Parameter Information Exact release date of processors Unknown Planned motherboard launch (W890) End of March Ready‑to‑go systems Dell, Lenovo, Supermicro, Puget

Performance
* Single‑thread: +9 % compared to Xeon W‑2500/3500.

* Multi‑thread: +61 %.

* Reason – increased core count (up to 86 in the Xeon 698X model).

* The flagship of the previous generation, Xeon w9‑3595X, had 60 cores; new models have 64 and 86 respectively.

The architecture is based on Redwood Cove – the same foundation as Intel Meteor Lake chips, but with more P‑cores and Hyper‑Threading support.

Model Cores Price (USD)
Xeon 6341 24 499
Xeon 696X 47 699
Xeon 698X 86 –

The top boxed model is the Xeon 696X (64 cores), matching AMD’s strategy where Threadripper 9000 tops at 64 cores, and Threadripper Pro 9000 WX goes up to 96.

General specifications (excluding the three base models)
Specification Details
Unlocked overclocking Yes
Memory 8‑channel DDR5, official frequency up to 6400 MT/s
PCIe 128 lanes PCIe 5.0
CXL Version 2.0
AMX accelerator on each core, FP16 support Yes
Memory capacity Up to 4 TB (double that of Threadripper 9000 WX, quadruple that of Threadripper 9000)

Note: a DDR5‑6400 RDIMM kit with 1 TB costs about $28,000.

New feature – MRDIMM
* MRDIMM (Multiplexed Rank DIMM) appears for the first time in workstations.

* The technology combines two memory ranks, doubling bandwidth to 8000 MT/s.

* Modules plug into the same slots as RDIMM but require processor support.

* MRDIMM is included only in five top models (starting with Xeon 674X), as it targets high‑performance computing.

Tests and benchmarks
Test Result
Cinebench 2026 +9 % single‑thread, +61 % multi‑thread versus Xeon W‑2500/3500
SPEC Workstation 4 (Xeon 698X) AI: +17 %; Power saving: +22 %; Finance: +61 %; Biology: +19 %; Media data: +10 % versus Xeon w9‑3595X
Blender Junkshop Rendering 74 % faster than the previous generation flagship
Topaz Labs Video Upscaler (AI video scaling) Speedup 29 %
Intel NumPy/SciPy (linear algebra) +24 %
SPEC Workstation 4 (big data) +18 %
AI output +16 %

AMX accelerators and FP16 instructions are considered key factors for efficiency gains.

Conclusion
Intel once again announces a significant step toward high‑performance workstations. Granite Rapids‑WS (Xeon 600) offers noticeable performance boosts, expanded memory capabilities, and support for new technologies such as MRDIMM and AMX. This makes them competitive with the latest AMD Threadripper 9000 models and opens new prospects for workloads in AI, finance, biology, and media data.