Apple’s iMac Pro Xeon W are ready

Apple’s customers should be delighted to find out their iMac Pros are well on their way.

SKUs

Inside of those new “mini supercomputers” are a special variant of Intel’s Xeon W SKUs.

Apple’s Xeon W Processors
Model	Cores	Threads	L2$	L3$	Frequency	Turbo
W-2140B	8	16	8 MiB	11 MiB	3.2 GHz	4.2 GHz
W-2150B	10	20	10 MiB	13.75 MiB	3.0 GHz	4.5 GHz
W-2170B	14	28	14 MiB	19.25 MiB	2.5 GHz	4.3 GHz
W-2191B	18	36	18 MiB	24.75 MiB	2.3 GHz	4.3 GHz

Note that for their own specs, Apple adds the level 2 and level 3 cache sizes together. Those parts have just about every feature enabled apart from Turbo Boost Max 3.0, which is reserved for Intel’s Core X enthusiasts line of processors. This includes ECC, up to quad-channel DDR4-2666 memory, and Intel’s new AVX-512 extension.

Lower TDPs?

All standard Xeon W parts with 6 to 18 cores have the same TDP rating of 140 W and a T_CASE of 64-70 °C. The most interesting question left is the TDP for those B parts. Both the 8-core and 10-core B versions have a slightly lower clock than their mainstream counterparts, strongly suggesting they have a lower TDP. Apple’s iMac Pros are great computers but they are still very limited in their ability to remove heat. With lower clock frequency we expect the “B” parts to have lower TDP, allowing those computers to run cooler under continuous load. While the 14 and 18 core parts have the same base and turbo frequencies, they too might be specially-binned chips with lower TDP.

Standard vs. “B” Xeon W Processors
	Standard	Apple		Standard	Apple
Model	W-2145	W-2140B		W-2155	W-2150B
	8 / 16			10 / 20
Base	3.7 GHz	3.2 GHz		3.3 GHz	3.0 GHz
Turbo	4.5 GHz	4.2 GHz		4.5 GHz	4.5 GHz
TDP	140 W	? W		140 W	? W

Planned 12 and 16 core parts?

If you look carefully at the SKU numbering, you will find that Intel has left room for two more possible parts – 12 and 16 cores models. Note that this applies to both mainstream as well as Apple’s “B” SKUs.

Xeon W Lineup
Standard	Apple	Cores / Threads
W-2145	W-2140B	8 / 16
W-2155	W-2150B	10 / 20
W-2165	W-2160B	12 / 24
W-2175	W-2170B	14 / 28
W-2185	W-2180B	16 / 32
W-2195	W-2191B	18 / 36

Those parts might show up sometimes later next year or possibly never. Either way Intel has clearly left room in case they decide to introduce them.