Intel is looking to update its Xeon D series of processors with brand new Ice Lake architecture models. Information about this was discovered by a Twitter user under the pseudonym @momomo_us. The name of the new series of processors is Ice Lake-D.

Xeon D chips are a subclass of Intel Xeon processors and are designed for use in compact server systems. They are optimized for relatively low power consumption, but meanwhile they offer a good level of performance. They sit somewhere between the Atom processors and the Xeon E3 family. Direct competitors of the Xeon D chips are the ARM server processors.

The most significant update to the new Ice Lake-D processors besides the completely new architecture, and most likely the technical process, will be related to the support of RAM. The older models of the current generation Xeon D with a large number of cores support up to 512 GB of RAM, the younger, with fewer cores – up to 128 GB. This is certainly a lot, but not for the server segment.

Older models of the new generation Ice Lake-D will allow you to use up to 1 TB of DDR4-2933 RAM. For comparison, the previous generation Xeon B supports memory up to 2667 MHz. Nothing is known about the peculiarities of working with RAM of the younger representatives of the future Ice Lake-D series. However, according to ASRock’s block diagram, which describes some of the features of motherboards for new processors, junior chips may be limited to support for three-channel RAM. Thus, the total amount of supported RAM will be below 1 TB.

The source also indicates that Ice Lake-D will be able to offer up to 20 physical cores. The current generation Xeon D offers a maximum of 16. Taking into account the fact that the new items will be built on the new 10nm architecture, you can expect a good increase in performance from them relative to the current generation of processors. At the same time, it is reported that the level of their power consumption will remain the same – in the range from 25 to 110 watts.

We add that Xeon D processors usually use the same crystals as in high-performance desktop (HEDT) processors of the Core X series. So, the preparation of new Xeon D may mean a relatively quick release of a new generation of consumer HEDT processors, conditional Ice Lake- X. Still, the actual Cascade Lake-X came out at the end of 2019 and are clearly outdated.