Intel's Xeon Diamond Rapids processors will use the company's all-new Oak Stream platform, which will adopt a brand-new socket with over 9300 pins, based on a test tool that Intel currently offers to its partners (discovered by @harukaze5719).
The new LGA9324 socket for Intel's Xeon 7 'Diamond Rapids' processors will — as the name suggests — have 9,324 contacts. This is up from the 4,677 contacts used by Intel's Sapphire Rapids and Emerald Rapids CPUs, and is also up from the 7,529 contacts used by Intel's Xeon 5 Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest processors.
Intel's Birch Stream platform for Intel Xeon 6900-series processors will have up to 288 E-cores or up to 128 P-cores, and already feature 12 DDR5 memory channels supporting DDR5-6400 regular or DDR5-8800 MCR memory as well as up to 96 PCIe 5.0 lanes. An LGA7529 socket can deliver up to 500W per Xeon 6900-series CPU.
Given the increased number of pins with the Oak Stream platform, it is reasonable to expect Intel's Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest to offer even more memory channels and I/O lanes, and to provide a higher power budget.
We wonder how large Intel's Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids and Clearwater Forest processors will be, but it is, at least, evident that they will be considerably larger than existing CPUs. Since the upcoming processors will likely consume more power than Granite Rapids and Sierra Forest CPUs, it is likely that range-topping stock keeping units (SKUs) will require exotic cooling solutions by default.
Intel does not yet have samples of its Xeon 7 Diamond Rapids processors for its customers, but it certainly needs to ensure that the new platform is ready when it ships new CPUs in 2025. So, for now, it's offering its LGA9324-OKS-AP-BLU interposer for the Gen5 VR test tool. The unit is designed to connect that test tool to a new processor socket to ensure PCIe Gen5 interoperability with the new platform. This interposer allows the test tool to measure the VCCIN rail, but it cannot handle the maximum power requirements needed for certain tests — customers are advised to use a different interposer for higher power loads.
