ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE + Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP

[JosefHrib]

I want to share my experience with Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP D0 and motherboard ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE with chipset W790.

Specs:
CPU: Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP QYFQ D0 48C/96T 1.5-3.3GHz 97,5MB L3 270W similar to Xeon Platinum 8468V
5120KB L1 (32 KB Instruction Cache per core, 48 KB Data Cache per core) 128MB L2 (2MB per core) 97,5MB L3 (1.875MB per core)
CPU: Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP QYFS D0 56C/112T 1.9-3.7GHz 105MB L3 350W similar to Xeon Platinum 8480+ / w9-3495X
5120KB L1 (32 KB Instruction Cache per core, 48 KB Data Cache per core) 128MB L2 (2MB per core) 105MB L3 (1.875MB per core)
MB: ASUS Pro WS W790E-SAGE SE LGA4677 8Channel (BIOS 0215, ME Firmware 16.10.5.1625)
RAM: 128GB (8x16GB) Kingston FURY Renegade Pro 6000MHz CL32 DDR5 RDIMM ECC REG
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition -> ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition 24GB GDDR6X
SSD: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD -> ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 | 4TB Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD
PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX 1600W ATX3 SSR-1600TR2
CPU Cooler: Silverstone SST-XE360-4677
Case Fans: 4x Phanteks T30 PH-F120T30
Fans Hub: Noctua NA-FH1 8 Channel Fan Hub
Case: Fractal Design Define 7 XL with Vented Front Door from Coldzero
Audio Device: SupremeFX Realtek S1220A
WiFi Device: Intel BE200NGW WiFi 7
Bluetooth Device: Intel BE200NGW Bluetooth 5.3
Monitor: ASUS ROG Strix XG32UQ 32" 4K 3840x2160 160Hz IPS HDR600

After a installed Windows 11 Pro x64, I installed the following drivers:
ASUS website: DRV_Chipset_Intel_21H2_TP_W10_64_V101196008418_20231020R link
ASUS website: DRV_MEI_Intel_Corp_RPL_TP_W11_64_V2334510_20230920R link
ASUS website: DRV_VGA_ASPEED_TP_W11_64_V9010115_20230817R link
ASUS website: Intel_Ethernet_X710_Driver_V1.16.202.1_for_Windows_10_64-bit link
ASUS website: Intel_Chipset_Driver_V10.1.19263.8344_for_WIN10_WIN11_64-bit link
ASUS website: Intel_Serial_IO_V30.100.2221.20_for_WIN10_WIN11_64-bit link
ASUS website: Realtek_Audio_Driver_V6.0.9400.1_for_WIN10_WIN11_64-bit link
INTEL website: QAT2.0.W.2.0.5-0014 link
NVIDIA website: GeForce Driver link
SAMSUNG website: Magician Software link

In BIOS I set:
Asus Multicore Enhancement Enabled Remove all Limits for CPU, Water Cooling Profile for CPU, XMP1 for RAM

In Windows I set:
High Performance Mode

In Device Manager is all fine, no problem.

1.Tested CPU: QYFQ
Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP QYFQ D0 48C/96T 1.5-3.3GHz 97.5MB L3 270W similar to Xeon Platinum 8468V
Base 1.5GHz All core turbo 2.5GHz Max turbo 3.3GHz
With Windows High Performance Mode stable frequency +- 1.5-1.7GHz, under load all cores +- 2.5GHz, under load single core +- 3.2-3.3GHz, idle +- 1.5-1.6GHz (With Windows Balanced Mode idle 800MHz)
Screenshot 3-7

2.Tested CPU: QYFS
Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids SPR-SP QYFS D0 56C/112T 1.9-3.7GHz 105MB L3 350W similar to Xeon Platinum 8480+
Base 1.9GHz All core turbo 2.8GHz Max turbo 3.7GHz
With Windows High Performance Mode stable frequency +- 2.0-2.2GHz, under load all cores +- 2.8GHz, under load single core +- 3.6-3.7GHz, idle +- 2.0-2.1GHz (With Windows Balanced Mode idle 800MHz)
Screenshot 8-17

Ps: I would like to thanks the user @RolloZ170 for helping me get my first piece ES2 D0 QYFQ aka 8468V.

 

[twin_savage]

Thank you for sharing this! I didn't know this was possible.

Does Mech/LLC overclocking work? it looks like your running at 2200MHz, if you could bring that up the memory performance would dramaticaly improve.
The normal W3400 processors run their LLC mesh at 2500MHz but the BIOS allows it to be manually set up to 2700MHz.

 

[bayleyw]

Two burning questions:

• Does overclocking work?! I assume not, but HWinfo shows a 47x max multiplier.
• Which PCIe slots don't work? SPR-SP is only 80 lanes but the board expects 112 lanes.

 

[JosefHrib]

PCIe
It’s same as for Xeon W2400 series, SPR-SP have only PCIe Slots 1,3,5,7 and no CPU M.2.

Overclocking
I haven't tried overclocking yet. I will look on it and write a feedback. What I have information so this CPU with this Stepping support only Memory OC.

 

[bayleyw]

Interesting. Do you know if the extra 16 PCIe lanes on SPR-SP get routed to any active slots on the board? Losing the CPU M.2 is a shame, but probably not a disaster in the grand scheme of things - I can't imagine consumer M.2 PCIe 5.0 drives being thermally any good.

 

[JosefHrib]

Interesting. Do you know if the extra 16 PCIe lanes on SPR-SP get routed to any active slots on the board? Losing the CPU M.2 is a shame, but probably not a disaster in the grand scheme of things - I can't imagine consumer M.2 PCIe 5.0 drives being thermally any good.

Last 16 PCIe lanes I not tested yet. I must look on it, because I want know this too.

Edit: As Rollo told me, last extra 16 PCIe lanes on SPR-SP should be on slot 2 or 4 or 6, if it is 2 you have to put wide GPU in slot 3 to make it usable.

 

[twin_savage]

PCIe
It’s same as for Xeon W2400 series, SPR-SP have only PCIe Slots 1,3,5,7 and no CPU M.2.

Overclocking
I haven't tried overclocking yet. I will look on it and write a feedback. What I have information so this CPU with this Stepping support only Memory OC.

This is the setting I'm really interested in, just if it lets you put in a number higher than 22

 

[RolloZ170]

Does Mech/LLC overclocking work? it looks like your running at 2200MHz, if you could bring that up the memory performance would dramaticaly improve.
The normal W3400 processors run their LLC mesh at 2500MHz but the BIOS allows it to be manually set up to 2700MHz.

QYFQ: this is not unlocked SPR-WS part.
only the mem.controller of this ES supports overclocking and as you see DDR5-6000 is working.
the BIOS expects a SPR-WS part and writes as usual to the OC Mailbox registers.
normaly invalid values are rejected but remember this is ES2.
you can write to some registers but take no effect.

 

[JosefHrib]

QYFQ: this is not unlocked SPR-WS part.
only the mem.controller of this ES supports overclocking and as you see DDR5-6000 is working.
the BIOS expects a SPR-WS part and writes as usual to the OC Mailbox registers.
normaly invalid values are rejected but remember this is ES2.
you can write to some registers but take no effect.

I retest CinebenchR23 with Asus Multicore Enhancement.
When was "Asus Multicore Enhancement" set to "Disabled" (Force Intel Default Limits) score was 50535 points.
Now with "Asus Multicore Enhancement" to "Enabled" (Remove all Limits) score jump to 51123 points. New screenshot in first post.
And I added screenshot from Cinebench2024 2828points.

 

[JosefHrib]

Today I received new piece Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids QYFS from US, tested in W790 SAGE with BIOS 0215 and works without any problems same as Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids QYFQ from user RolloZ170. Screenshots in my first post.

 

[JosefHrib]

Thank you for sharing this! I didn't know this was possible.

Does Mech/LLC overclocking work? it looks like your running at 2200MHz, if you could bring that up the memory performance would dramaticaly improve.
The normal W3400 processors run their LLC mesh at 2500MHz but the BIOS allows it to be manually set up to 2700MHz.

Today I tested next Sapphire Rapids CPU in my W790 SAGE, model QYFS, and this piece run LLC mesh at 2500MHz.

 

[maikzz32]

Today I tested next Sapphire Rapids CPU in my W790 SAGE, model QYFS, and this piece run LLC mesh at 2500MHz.

Hi Josef, is there an update for the QYFS? I have ordered a QYFR and hope it will run on my board.

 

[JosefHrib]

Hi Josef, is there an update for the QYFS? I have ordered a QYFR and hope it will run on my board.

As you can see screenshots, QYFS works with my W790 SAGE without problemy same as QYFQ, BIOS 0215.

 

[Kizune]

Hi Josef, is there an update for the QYFS? I have ordered a QYFR and hope it will run on my board.

Can confirm - QYFS works fine on Asus board but not with the latest BIOS. W790 SAGE latest BIOS it will work with is 0205, W790 ACE latest BIOS it boots into Windows with is 0403. Any more modern BIOS and it hangs up on Windows device initialization phase - you can go into BIOS, change settings but Windows will hang up on startup.

 

[RolloZ170]

Hi Josef, is there an update for the QYFS? I have ordered a QYFR and hope it will run on my board.

as Kizune already mentioned latest BIOS will not work with most D0 stepping SPR-SP ES2.
i have tested some with ASUS WS W790-Ace:

QYFQ only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase
QYFP all BIOS 0403/0506/0705 works
QY06 only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase
QY0C only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase
update:
windows hang solved by BIOS tweak

 

[JosefHrib]

Can confirm - QYFS works fine on Asus board but not with the latest BIOS. W790 SAGE latest BIOS it will work with is 0205, W790 ACE latest BIOS it boots into Windows with is 0403. Any more modern BIOS and it hangs up on Windows device initialization phase - you can go into BIOS, change settings but Windows will hang up on startup.

PRO WS W790E-SAGE SE BIOS 0215
Version 0215
12.04 MB
2023/02/20
First Release

as Kizune already mentioned latest BIOS will not work with most D0 stepping SPR-SP ES2.
i have tested some with ASUS WS W790-Ace:

QYFQ(QAT) only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase
QYFP(no QAT) all BIOS 0403/0506/0705 works
QY06(QAT) only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase
QY0C(QAT) only BIOS 0403, but 0506/0705 hangs up on Windows device initialization phase

Good to know.
I will stick with SAGE 0215 bios. Maybe if in future will be good price for retail 3495X (or EMR var ) so I will upgrade but for now I can life with ES2 D0 QYFS without any problems. For me and my works is QYFS so powerful cpu.
And if I will be building in future next workstation so I maybe jump on some newer platform.

 

[sam55todd]

how do you guys identify other accelerators?
I do see one line saying "Intel 4xxx accelerator" in device manager (or HWInfo64) on my 8461V discount-bought from Kizune
It's most likely QAT but how to check all other ones: DSC / DLB / IAA ? or those are only on linux?
p.s. just got another Dynatron S6 LGA4677 cooler from ebay (UK) as item 126104159161 at reasonable price (for second CPU if I ever get another 2S compatible pair, because don't want to miss-out like 6 month ago with premium-non-intel VROC keys when plenty of those were selling for around £90-£100), things start to move into right direction.
China-based sellers are strangely still very reluctant on their QS SPRs holding prices above $3K, it's either me not understanding market or they have no idea what those are actually worth, how long work before fail or how fast price drop is in ES/QS segment).

 

[RolloZ170]

how do you guys identify other accelerators?
I do see one line saying "Intel 4xxx accelerator" in device manager (or HWInfo64) on my 8461V discount-bought from Kizune

PCI Bus #232,237,242,247 DEV_4940 = Intel 4xxx QAT

It's most likely QAT but how to check all other ones: DSC / DLB / IAA ? or those are only on linux?

DSA / DLB / IAA are reported by HWinfo with that names.

 

[JosefHrib]

PCI Bus #232,237,242,247 DEV_4940 = Intel 4xxx QAT

DSA / DLB / IAA are reported by HWinfo with that names.

 

[sam55todd]

Great, thanks, now I know where to look for it (missed you first images with "Intel 4xxx accelerator" in PCI BUS branch lines on first message.

Although if it's 8480+ then where's IAA? (unless they code it differently in these lines) because I haven't seen that many Platinum grade processors on production release page with QAT but without IAA (just two: 8470N/8471N)