Recently we covered that Intel Stratix 10 Adds UPI and PCIe Gen4 Readying for CXL. That was great, but while we asked for a photo, we did not get it. Fast forward to Intel Memory and Storage Day 2019, we found one and had the chance to ask some questions. Specifically, we found a developer board for Stratix 10 with UPI and DCPMM.
Intel Stratix 10 with Optane DCPMM DDR4 and UPI
Here is the development board. It is a PCIe x16 card which offers one way to connect it. That connector is behind the DIMM. We are going to talk about the components moving from left to right.
On the left, are UPI connectors. We were told that you can get up to three UPI links from these six connectors. UPI allows for a coherent link to an Intel Xeon CPU. One can then see the power connector at the bottom left of this picture.
Next, there are 10 packages in two rows. Those are DDR4 memory soldered on the developer board. One can then see the Stratix 10 FPGA. We were told that this DDR4 is the memory for the Stratix 10 FPGA, but that there is an option to use HBM2 as well. There are also two DIMM slots. The company had a 128GB Intel DC Persistent Memory Module (DCPMM) installed. Finally, there are two QSFP28 cages to the right.
Final Words
Intel is extremely proud of this board, and it has reason to be. This is showing CPU connectivity and capabilities that Xilinx does not have at this point. It also shows the roadmap to CXL with the PCIe Gen5 systems that we will see in a few years when Intel Agilex arrives. We always ask for pictures when we run stories. Sometimes we do not get them, but know we are always working to find hardware for our readers.
