Intel Xeon 6726P-B socket: BGA 4368

What the Xeon 6726P-B is

The Intel Xeon 6726P-B is a 42-core member of the Xeon 6 Granite Rapids-D soldered edge stack on BGA 4368. It runs 42 Performance-cores with Hyper-Threading for 84 threads at 2.3 GHz base with boost to 3.5 GHz, backed by 168 MB of cache and a 235 W TDP. Intel launched the P-B range in the first quarter of 2025 at a 4250 USD recommended price, built on Intel 3 for single-socket edge servers.

Forty-two cores suit dense virtualization hosts, storage clusters, data firewalls and inference nodes that need more than 40 threads per socket without stepping to the larger BGA 5026 package. The 168 MB cache pool keeps large tables near the cores across 4 DDR5 channels. At 235 W the part needs high-airflow edge chassis with vendor-qualified heatsinks.

Against the 40-core Intel Xeon 6716P-B below it, the 6726P-B adds 2 cores for denser consolidation at the same 235 W class. Against the 64-core parts on BGA 5026 above it, the 6726P-B trades cores and channels for lower power and cost. Zero UPI links confirm single-socket-only topologies. See Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works for how socket, platform and firmware fit together on server boards.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 6726P-B fits BGA 4368, a 4,368-ball soldered package measuring 77.5 × 50 mm. The chip is soldered once at the factory and stays with the board for life, so there is no retention mechanism and no aftermarket mounting choice. Cooling is part of the board design for the 235 W class with an 85 degree case limit.

Board choice follows the server vendor list for Granite Rapids-D edge systems. Memory is 4-channel DDR5 ECC fixed per board, and expansion rides on 32 Gen 5 plus 16 Gen 4 PCIe lanes. A board revision needs firmware that knows the Granite Rapids-D stepping. Moving from any other socket is a full platform change with board, memory and heatsinks replaced together.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory on BGA 4368 is DDR5 ECC in 4 channels, up to 6400 MT/s for up to 1.13 TB. Four channels keep 84 threads supplied in virtualization, storage and inference mixes. Population order follows the board manual, and the vendor list governs exact DIMM types.

PCI Express connectivity is Gen 5 with x32 lanes plus Gen 4 with x16 lanes from the CPU. That lane budget feeds NVMe arrays, 100-gigabit networking and accelerators on a dense single-socket node. AVX-512 with two FMA ports and DL Boost accelerate inference where the workload uses them.

Cooling follows the board vendor list for the 235 W class with vendor-qualified heatsinks. No cooler ships with the tray server part. Firmware power limits can cap draw below the default where a cabinet demands it, at some cost in sustained clocks.

Upgrade paths

On the same package, there is no larger BGA 4368 part above the 42-core 6726P-B in this batch, so growth on BGA 4368 means adding nodes rather than a bigger chip. The 40-core Intel Xeon 6716P-B below it keeps high clocks at the same 235 W class.

The step down to the 36-core Intel Xeon 6553P-B trims cores for a lower price. A move to BGA 5026 is a different soldered platform with 64 cores and 8 memory channels for denser nodes. That change replaces board, memory and cooling from scratch.