EPYC Venice (and a touch of Turin) vs Xeon 6 — Server CPU Spec Comparison (June 2026)

While AMD unveiled its new “Venice” line of Epyc processors a few days ago, Intel has introduced the Xeon 6 series. In a nutshell: AMD still has a decent lead in several key areas. At present, AMD CPUs offer a higher core count: 256 for AMD and 144 for Intel. However, Intel is catching up, and “Clearwater Forest” has now been announced, set to offer up to 288 cores. It is noteworthy that the inventor of Hyper-Threading has omitted this feature from this CPU – a striking detail. One of the most important factors, bandwidth, is currently converging, until the arrival of AMD Venice, which will then facilitate a “whopping” 1.6TB/s compared to 768GB/s. Where things certainly aren’t improving is power consumption. AMD has announced a maximum power consumption of 1,400 watts for the Venice CPU, meaning these processors will likely require special cooling. So Intel is catching up on core count but without SMT, and since AMD Venice (as far as we know) will have SMT, the largest variant can handle 512 threads. In summary, the same applies to both Intel and AMD: faster and more. That leaves one important question: what does it cost? The figures are, of course, quite high, but a sensible comparison is the price per core (leaving SMT aside), and Intel doesn’t fare too well there: 77.15 AMD per core and 139.06 Intel per core. Perhaps the larger L3 cache gives the Intels a decent performance boost, but until we know for sure, with Intel you get less for more.

Below is our research list with all the tables and the well-known bulk distribution prices (which, of course, are subject to change, as is unfortunately now common knowledge):

Platform-Level Comparison

	AMD EPYC Turin	Intel Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids)	Intel Xeon 6+ (Clearwater Forest)
Core architecture	Zen 5 / Zen 5c	Redwood Cove (P-core)	Darkmont (E-core)
Max cores	192 (Zen 5c) / 128 (Zen 5)	128 P-cores	288 E-cores
SMT	Yes (2T/core)	Yes (2 threads per core)	No (1T/core)
Max threads	384	256	288
Socket	SP5 (LGA 6096)	LGA 7529 (AP) / LGA 4710 (SP)	LGA 7529
Memory	12-channel DDR5-6400	12-channel DDR5-6400 (AP) / 8-channel (SP)	12-channel DDR5-8000
Memory bandwidth	614 GB/s	~614 GB/s (12-channel)	~768 GB/s (DDR5-8000)
PCIe	128 Gen5	96 Gen5 + 64 CXL 2.0	96 Gen5 + 64 CXL 2.0
Process	TSMC 3nm (CCD)	Intel 3	Intel 18A
TDP range	125–500W	165–500W	330–450W
2S capable	Yes (all non-P)	Yes (6900P/6700P)	Yes
Availability	Shipping now	Shipping now	Paper launch June 2026, no review hardware

Flagship Head-to-Head

	EPYC 9965 (Zen 5c)	Xeon 6980P (P-core)	Xeon 6990E+ (E-core)
Cores/Threads	192/384	128/256	288/288
Base / Boost	2.25 / 3.7 GHz	2.0 / 3.9 GHz	TBD
L3 Cache	384 MB	504 MB	576 MB
TDP	500W	500W	450W / 330W
1U Price	$14,813	$12,460	TBD
Memory	12-channel DDR5-6400	12-channel DDR5-6400	12-channel DDR5-8000

Mid-Range Sweet Spot (where most customers are)

	EPYC 9555	EPYC 9455	Xeon 6787P	Xeon 6754P
Cores/Threads	64/128	48/96	86/172	48/96
Base / Boost	3.2 / 4.4 GHz	3.15 / 4.4 GHz	2.0 / 3.8 GHz	2.8 / 3.8 GHz
TDP	360W	300W	350W	270W
1U	~$6,800	~$4,099	TBD	TBD
Socket	SP5	SP5	LGA 4710	LGA 4710
Memory	12-channel DDR5-6400	12-channel DDR5-6400	8-channel DDR5-6400	8-channel DDR5-6400

Dense / E-Core Shootout (cloud-native, scale-out)

	EPYC 9965 (Zen 5c)	Xeon 6780E (Sierra Forest)	Xeon 6990E+ (Clearwater Forest)
Cores/Threads	192/384	144/144	288/288
Base / Boost	2.25 / 3.7 GHz	2.2 / 3.0 GHz	TBD
TDP	500W	330W	450W
Process	TSMC 3nm	Intel 3	Intel 18A
Memory	12-channel DDR5-6400	8-channel DDR5-6400	12-channel DDR5-8000
1U	$14,813	$11,350	TBD

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AMD EPYC Venice (Zen 6) — Next Gen

Status: Production ramp announced 20 May 2026. First HPC chip on TSMC N2 (2nm). Targeting H2 2026 launch (Helios AI rack Q3 2026).

Venice Platform Specs

Spec	Detail
Architecture	Zen 6 / Zen 6c
Process	TSMC N2 (2nm) for CCDs — first 2nm HPC chip in production
Max Cores	256 cores / 512 threads (Zen 6c dense)
Zen 6 Classic	Up to 96 cores / 192 threads (8 CCDs × 12 cores)
Zen 6c Dense	Up to 256 cores / 512 threads (higher CCD count, 32 cores/CCD reported for ES chips)
Socket	SP7 (new platform, replaces SP5). Body 123.6 × 100.6mm (~12% larger than SP5)
Memory	Up to 16-channel DDR5, up to 6TB per socket
Memory Bandwidth	1.6 TB/s per socket (2.6× that of Turin’s 614 GB/s)
PCIe	PCIe 6.0 support; doubled CPU-to-GPU bandwidth (~128 GB/s per direction)
Performance claim	AMD claims 70% more compute performance compared to EPYC Turin (Zen 5)
Thread Density	1.3× vs. Turin; 1.7× performance (ServeTheHome FAD 2025)
TDP	SP7 platform scales from 700W up to 1,400W. Liquid-cooled cold plates pictured.
Platform	Helios AI rack (4× MI455X + 1× Venice per node), Q3 2026
Arizona production	Venice planned for TSMC Fab 21 Phase 3 (N2/A16). Volume production not expected before 2028.

Venice Notes

• Engineering samples spotted in 64, 128, and 192-core configurations on test platforms named "Congo", "Kenya", and "Nigeria"
• Package redesign: two slender centralised I/O dies (4nm) flanked by up to 8 CCDs (2nm)
• SP7 pin count not yet confirmed (SP5 = 6,096 pins)
• Zen 6 desktop ("Medusa") expected in 2027 on AM5
• Verano also announced: another 6th Gen EPYC on TSMC 2nm, optimised for performance-per-dollar-per-watt. Uses SP8 socket. Launching in 2027.
• AMD holds 46% server CPU revenue share (Q1 2026, Mercury Research) — up from ~40% at FAD Nov 2025
• Intel's competing P-core (Diamond Rapids) won't ship until 2027 at the earliest. Venice faces only Clearwater Forest (E-core) in 2026.

Turin → Venice Upgrade Comparison

	EPYC Turin (Zen 5)	EPYC Venice (Zen 6)	Delta
Max cores (dense)	192	256	+33%
Max threads	384	512	+33%
Socket	SP5	SP7	New platform
Memory channels	12	16	+33%
Memory bandwidth	614 GB/s	1,600 GB/s	+160%
PCIe	Gen 5	Gen 6	2× bandwidth per lane
CPU↔GPU bandwidth	~64 GB/s	~128 GB/s	2×
Process	TSMC 3nm	TSMC 2nm	Next node
TDP ceiling	500W	Up to 1,400W (liquid)	Redefines server cooling

Venice vs Clearwater Forest (the 2026 showdown)

	EPYC Venice (Zen 6/Zen 6c)	Xeon 6+ Clearwater Forest (Darkmont E-core)
Cores	Up to 256	Up to 288
Threads	Up to 512 (SMT)	288 (no SMT)
Core type	Full Zen 6 P-cores + Zen 6c	E-core only
Process	TSMC 2nm	Intel 18A
Memory	16-channel DDR5	12-channel DDR5-8000
Memory bandwidth	1.6 TB/s	~768 GB/s
PCIe	Gen 6	Gen 5
Target	General-purpose, AI host, HPC	Cloud density, edge, telco
Availability	H2 2026 (production ramp-up started)	Paper launch June 2026, no hardware review
Competition	No Intel P-core rival until 2027	Only E-core — different market segment

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Full EPYC Turin SKU List

Zen 5 High-Frequency ("F") SKUs

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	1KU Price
9175F	16/32	4.20 GHz	5.00 GHz	512 MB	320W	~$4,256
9275F	24/48	4.10 GHz	4.80 GHz	256 MB	320W	~$3,746
9375F	32/64	3.80 GHz	4.80 GHz	256 MB	320W	~$4,940
9475F	48/96	3.65 GHz	4.80 GHz	256 MB	400W	~$6,683
9575F	64/128	3.30 GHz	5.00 GHz	256 MB	400W	~$8,375

Zen 5 Standard SKUs

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	1KU Price
9015	8/16	3.60 GHz	4.10 GHz	64 MB	125W	~$1,752
9115	16/32	2.60 GHz	4.10 GHz	64 MB	125W	~$1,849
9135	16/32	3.65 GHz	4.30 GHz	64 MB	200W	~$2,095
9255	24/48	3.20 GHz	4.30 GHz	128 MB	200W	~$2,332
9335	32/64	3.00 GHz	4.40 GHz	128 MB	210W	~$2,449
9355	32/64	3.55 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	280W	~$3,500
9355P	32/64	3.55 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	280W	~$3,000
9365	36/72	3.40 GHz	4.30 GHz	192 MB	300W	~$4,425
9455	48/96	3.15 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	300W	~$4,099
9455P	48/96	3.15 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	300W	~$3,449
9535	64/128	2.40 GHz	4.30 GHz	256 MB	300W	~$5,685
9555	64/128	3.20 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	360W	~$6,800
9555P	64/128	3.20 GHz	4.40 GHz	256 MB	360W	~$5,800
9565	72/144	3.15 GHz	4.30 GHz	384 MB	400W	~$9,900
9655	96/192	2.60 GHz	4.50 GHz	384 MB	400W	~$7,000
9655P	96/192	2.60 GHz	4.50 GHz	384 MB	400W	~$6,200
9755	128/256	2.70 GHz	4.10 GHz	512 MB	500W	$10,931–12,984

Zen 5c Dense SKUs

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	1KU Price
9645	96/192	2.30 GHz	3.70 GHz	256 MB	320W	~$8,463
9745	128/256	2.40 GHz	3.70 GHz	256 MB	400W	~$10,009
9825	144/288	2.20 GHz	3.70 GHz	384 MB	390W	~$12,073
9845	160/320	2.10 GHz	3.70 GHz	320 MB	390W	~$12,264
9965	192/384	2.25 GHz	3.70 GHz	384 MB	500W	$14,813

Naming convention: P = single-socket only (lower price). F = high-frequency optimised. No suffix = dual-socket capable.

Full Intel Xeon 6 SKU List

Granite Rapids 6900P (P-cores, LGA 7529, 2S)

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	Price
6980P	128/256	2.0 GHz	3.9 GHz	504 MB	500W	$12,460
6979P	120/240	2.1 GHz	3.9 GHz	504 MB	500W	—
6972P	96/192	2.4 GHz	3.9 GHz	480 MB	500W	—
6962P	72/144	2.7 GHz	3.9/4.4 GHz	432 MB	500W	—
6960P	72/144	2.7 GHz	3.9 GHz	432 MB	500W	—
6952P	96/192	2.1 GHz	3.9 GHz	480 MB	400W	—
6944P	72/144	1.8 GHz	3.9 GHz	432 MB	350W	—

Platform: 12-channel DDR5-6400, MRDIMM up to 8800 MT/s, 96 PCIe Gen5 + 64 CXL 2.0, 6× UPI 24 GT/s.

Granite Rapids 6700P (P-cores, LGA 4710, 2S)

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP
6788P	86/172	2.0 GHz	3.8 GHz	336 MB	350W
6787P	86/172	2.0 GHz	3.8 GHz	336 MB	350W
6772P	72/144	2.5 GHz	3.8 GHz	288 MB	350W
6754P	48/96	2.8 GHz	3.8 GHz	192 MB	270W
6743P	36/72	2.7 GHz	3.9 GHz	192 MB	270W
6738P	32/64	2.9 GHz	4.2 GHz	144 MB	270W
6730P	32/64	2.5 GHz	3.8 GHz	288 MB	250W
6728P	24/48	2.7 GHz	4.1 GHz	144 MB	210W
6724P	16/32	3.6 GHz	4.3 GHz	72 MB	210W
6714P	8/16	4.0 GHz	4.3 GHz	48 MB	165W

Platform: 8-channel DDR5-6400, MRDIMM up to 8000 MT/s, 88 PCIe Gen5 + 64 CXL 2.0, 4× UPI 24 GT/s.

Sierra Forest 6700E (E-cores, LGA 4710, no SMT)

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	Scal.	Price
6780E	144/144	2.2 GHz	3.0 GHz	108 MB	330W	2S	$11,350
6766E	144/144	1.9 GHz	2.7 GHz	108 MB	250W	2S	$10,257
6756E	128/128	1.8 GHz	2.6 GHz	96 MB	225W	2S	$8,428
6746E	112/112	2.0 GHz	2.7 GHz	96 MB	250W	2S	$5,929
6740E	96/96	2.4 GHz	3.2 GHz	96 MB	250W	2S	$5,265
6731E	96/96	2.2 GHz	3.1 GHz	96 MB	250W	1S	$4,121
6710E	64/64	2.4 GHz	3.2 GHz	96 MB	205W	2S	$2,749

No AVX-512. No Hyper-Threading. 8-channel DDR5-6400, 88 PCIe Gen5.

Clearwater Forest Xeon 6+ (E-cores, Intel 18A, LGA 7529)

Model	Cores/Threads	TDP	Memory	Process
6990E+	288/288	450W / 330W	12-channel DDR5-8000	Intel 18A
6960E+	144/144	TBD	12-channel DDR5-8000	Intel 18A

Platform: 12 compute chiplets (Intel 18A), 3 base tiles (Intel 3), 2 I/O tiles (Intel 7). Foveros Direct 3D + EMIB. 96 PCIe Gen5 + 64 CXL 2.0. Socket-compatible with Granite Rapids-AP. Pricing TBD. No review hardware available yet (Phoronix, June 2026) — unclear whether this is a paper launch or volume shipping.

Xeon 600 Workstation (Granite Rapids-WS, LGA 4710, 1S)

Model	Cores/Threads	Base	Boost	L3 Cache	TDP	Price
698X	86/172	2.0 GHz	4.8 GHz	336 MB	350W	$7,699
696X	64/128	2.4 GHz	4.8 GHz	336 MB	350W	$5,599
678X	48/96	2.4 GHz	4.9 GHz	192 MB	300W	~$3,899
676X	32/64	2.8 GHz	4.9 GHz	144 MB	275W	~$2,499
674X	28/56	3.0 GHz	4.9 GHz	144 MB	270W	~$1,799
658X	24/48	3.0 GHz	4.9 GHz	144 MB	250W	~$1,399
656	20/40	3.4 GHz	4.7 GHz	96 MB	185W	~$799
634	12/24	3.7 GHz	4.5 GHz	48 MB	125W	~$541

Chipset: W890. 8-channel DDR5 MRDIMM up to 8000 MT/s, 128 PCIe Gen5, CXL 2.0. X-series = unlocked. Boxed retail available.

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Roadmap

	AMD	Intel
Current generation	EPYC Turin (Zen 5, TSMC 3nm) — shipping	Xeon 6 Granite Rapids (Intel 3) — shipping
Next gen	EPYC Venice (Zen 6, TSMC 2nm) — production ramp H2 2026	Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids (18A-P) — 2027
Dense variant	Venice Zen 6c up to 256 cores	Clearwater Forest up to 288 E-cores (just launched)
Follow-on	Verano (SP8, performance/cost/W optimised) — 2027	Coral Rapids — mid-2028
Max cores (next)	256 (Zen 6c)	192 P-cores (no SMT)
Memory (next)	16-channel DDR5, SP7 socket	16-channel, LGA 9324
PCIe (next)	PCIe 6.0	TBD
Key claim (next)	70% more compute vs Turin	2x memory bandwidth vs Granite Rapids

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In summary:

1. AMD offers higher core density + SMT. 192 cores/384 threads versus Intel’s 128 cores/256 threads (P-core) or 288 cores/288 threads (E-core, no SMT). For throughput-oriented tasks where the number of threads matters, EPYC wins in terms of density.

2. *Intel (for now) has the upper hand again when it comes to memory bandwidth. * Clearwater Forest offers 12-channel DDR5-8000 — ~768 GB/s versus EPYC Turin’s 614 GB/s. But Venice will feature 16-channel / 1.6 TB/s — that is twice what Clearwater Forest offers. Intel’s brief bandwidth advantage will disappear as soon as Venice hits the market.

3. Platform fragmentation is Intel’s problem. Three sockets (LGA 7529, 4710, 9324 on the way), E-core versus P-core, Xeon 6 versus 6+ versus 7. AMD now has SP5, SP7 for Venice (a single transition). Simpler platform = simpler procurement.

4. Clearwater Forest is, so far, merely a paper launch. No test hardware, no independent benchmarks, no public prices. EPYC Turin is being shipped in large quantities. Production of Venice has got underway.

5. Workstation: Xeon 600 is finally a reality. Up to 86 P-cores on LGA 4710, MRDIMM at 8000 MT/s, sold in boxes. Fills the gap compared to Threadripper 9000. But 8-channel memory versus EPYC’s 12-channel on SP5 — Threadripper still wins in terms of memory bandwidth.

6. Venice versus Diamond Rapids is the real battle. Both are 2nm/18A-class, both claim massive leaps forward. But Venice is due in the second half of 2026, while Diamond Rapids has been pushed back to 2027. That’s a gap of 6–12 months during which AMD has absolutely no P-core competition from Intel. AMD already has a 46% share of server revenue.

7. Venice is changing the conversation about server cooling. The SP7 platform scales up to 1,400 W. That’s not air cooling. There are already images of liquid-cooled cold plates. This has implications for the rack, cabling and power supply in every deployment.

8. Verano is the surprise. SP8 socket, optimised for performance per dollar per watt, 2027.

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Sources

• AMD EPYC 9005-series datasheet
• AMD product pages (amd.com) — individual SKU 1KU pricing
• Supermicro CPU spec table — 9005-series reference
• Colfax International EPYC 9005 comparison
• Thomas-Krenn Wiki AMD EPYC 9005 Turin overview
• TechPowerUp CPU Database — MSRP/specs verification
• Tom's Hardware — Venice production ramp on TSMC 2nm (21 May 2026)
• Tom's Hardware — Venice 256-core announcement / CES preview
• AMD press release — Venice production ramp (20 May 2026)
• AMD Financial Analyst Day 2025 — Venice roadmap slides
• ServeTheHome — Venice FAD 2025 preview (1.3× thread density, 1.7× performance)
• Wccftech — SP7/SP8 socket details + Venice power scaling (700–1400W)
• TechPowerUp — Venice breaking the 1,000W barrier
• Intel Xeon 6 press kit (newsroom.intel.com)
• Intel product briefs — Granite Rapids, Sierra Forest
• VideoCardz — Xeon 6+ Clearwater Forest launch coverage (1 June 2026)
• Phoronix — Xeon 6+ Computex 2026 launch + no review hardware note
• Origin PC — Xeon 600 workstation spec page
• Fudzilla — Xeon 600 pricing
• WikiChip — Intel Xeon roadmap
• Tom's Hardware — Xeon 600 Granite Rapids-WS launch
• Tom's Hardware — Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids 2027 (leaked)