AMD EPYC Architecture & Technical Overview

[W1zzard]

Today, AMD took the wraps off their new EPYC server processors, which feature up to 64 threads and can support one or two CPUs per motherboard. Our article details the technical and architectural changes and also explains how AMD's Infinity Fabric interconnect works.

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[RHoudini]

Pricing?

 

[VSG]

Pricing?

The AMD launch day event is still ongoing, so I will update the post with new info on pricing if we get it. For now, all we have are the price-to-performance graphs in the slide deck (penultimate page).

 

[TheLostSwede]

This is dodgy as...

So because AMD has a less optimised compiler, it's apparently ok to reduce the competitors performance with an arbitrary percentage?
Not cool AMD, not cool...

 

[Ferrum Master]

EPYC ethanol... don't you see they were consuming alcohol while doing this?

 

[Sasqui]

This is dodgy as...

So because AMD has a less optimised compiler, it's apparently ok to reduce the competitors performance with an arbitrary percentage?
Not cool AMD, not cool...

So, what they don't know they make up. It's called marketing lol.

 

[VSG]

So because AMD has a less optimised compiler, it's apparently ok to reduce the competitors performance with an arbitrary percentage?
Not cool AMD, not cool...

Yeah we caught that earlier today and emailed AMD about it, and a few others. I will add in any official response if/when they come.

 

[TheGuruStud]

This is dodgy as...

So because AMD has a less optimised compiler, it's apparently ok to reduce the competitors performance with an arbitrary percentage?
Not cool AMD, not cool...

Ha, ICC only all over on desktop and no one complains when it makes Intel look good.

 

[VSG]

Pricing and retail availability info added to page 1 as per latest news provided.

 

[Thimblewad]

So, what they don't know they make up. It's called marketing lol.

 

[TheGuruStud]

I wonder if ryzen 7s (1800s anyway) are getting a price drop. HEDT should cost less than enterprise, eh?

Either way, looks like there's no point for 8 core when 16 is so cheap.

 

[Thimblewad]

I wonder if ryzen 7s (1800s anyway) are getting a price drop. HEDT should cost less than enterprise, eh?

I've been thinking of getting one of those for sometime now... Maybe next year? I bet they get one 'till then. The 1700 would be pretty nice. Also other things...

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wonder if ryzen 7s (1800s anyway) are getting a price drop. HEDT should cost less than enterprise, eh?

Either way, looks like there's no point for 8 core when 16 is so cheap.

No point? Sorry, but I guess you're not aware that some software is charged by the core, as some companies likes to screw their customers on the licensing.

 

[TheGuruStud]

No point? Sorry, but I guess you're not aware that some software is charged by the core, as some companies likes to screw their customers on the licensing.

Whose fault would it be to continue using it? Shit, I'd just pay the Russians to crack it lolz.

 

[Frick]

No point? Sorry, but I guess you're not aware that some software is charged by the core, as some companies likes to screw their customers on the licensing.

No to mention the much lower clock speed, and completelt different platform.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Whose fault would it be to continue using it? Shit, I'd just pay the Russians to crack it lolz.

Yeah, do that as a business and we'll see how long you last until you end up in court... Yes, it's sadly one of those nasty things companies do to try to eek out more money from their customers, but nothing much anyone can do about it, unless there's alternative software, which often isn't the case...

 

[BigMack70]

Assuming the results given here by AMD are close to the actual real world situation EPYC will create, this is the best technology news I've seen in years. True high end competition in the CPU market. It's been almost a decade since we last had that, and consumers have been getting screwed for years by Intel at all levels as a result. Fingers crossed that's about to end

 

[Dimi]

Assuming the results given here by AMD are close to the actual real world situation EPYC will create, this is the best technology news I've seen in years. True high end competition in the CPU market. It's been almost a decade since we last had that, and consumers have been getting screwed for years by Intel at all levels as a result. Fingers crossed that's about to end

As if consumers require high core count low clockspeed cpu's. 95% of consumers require lower but faster core cpu's for daily regular tasks.

I also like how the 8/16 core version has a TDP of 120W at 2.9Ghz when Intel gets shit on for having a TDP of 140W at 4.3Ghz.

 

[BigMack70]

As if consumers require high core count low clockspeed cpu's. 95% of consumers require lower but faster core cpu's for daily regular tasks.

I also like how the 8/16 core version has a TDP of 120W at 2.9Ghz when Intel gets shit on for having a TDP of 140W at 4.3Ghz.

You are missing the point of this completely. How do companies come up with their consumer CPUs? They cut down their top tier server CPU designs in various ways until they have a profitable inexpensive chip to sell. If you want innovation in the consumer CPU space, there needs to be competition in the server space.

 

[Dimi]

You are missing the point of this completely. How do companies come up with their consumer CPUs? They cut down their top tier server CPU designs in various ways until they have a profitable inexpensive chip to sell. If you want innovation in the consumer CPU space, there needs to be competition in the server space.

You can buy Xeon chips if you want high core count. You can find them as cheap as dirt if you look around.

Like i said, MOST consumers don't need any of these cpu's. What benefits them most is a good SSD.
Faster/fewer cores will reign the consumer market for many more years as they don't need extreme performing server grade chips that consumes 170/200W.

 

[BigMack70]

You can buy Xeon chips if you want high core count. You can find them as cheap as dirt if you look around.

Like i said, MOST consumers don't need any of these cpu's. What benefits them most is a good SSD.
Faster/fewer cores will reign the consumer market for many more years as they don't need extreme performing server grade chips that consumes 170/200W.

Those faster/fewer core CPUs will never improve meaningfully without competition in the server market where Intel/AMD do their high end design work which then trickles down into cheap CPU designs. Cheap consumer CPUs are not developed in a vacuum by themselves.

 

[Dimi]

Well if you think that, then i don't think AMD is doing a very good job here.

Sure, lower prices for high core count cpu's with low clocks paired with not the greatest IPC . But who benefits from these anyway? Its certainly not the average joe desktop consumer. People who render stuff on daily basis or do other heavy computational tasks.

I'd rather pay 100$ extra for the 7820x over the 1800x because of its higher IPC and faster cores.

Then again, i'm in no hurry to upgrade, my 4770K is still working great after 4 years. And while i like to see progress, i'm sort of thankful that my purchased hardware isn't obsolete after 1 year.

 

[theeldest]

This is dodgy as...

So because AMD has a less optimised compiler, it's apparently ok to reduce the competitors performance with an arbitrary percentage?
Not cool AMD, not cool...

They ran the benchmark on the AMD and Intel systems with the binaries compiled with GCC -O2. So they used standard optimizations for each. It's actually not a terrible way to do it as Intel has a very highly optimized version of the benchmark and I'd argue that such optimizations are not representative of most general purpose workloads whereas 'gcc -O2' is representative.

 

[The Von Matrices]

I wonder if ryzen 7s (1800s anyway) are getting a price drop. HEDT should cost less than enterprise, eh?

Either way, looks like there's no point for 8 core when 16 is so cheap.

The 8 core server processor still has 128 PCIe lanes, making it great for a storage server or GPU compute server.

 

[Aenra]

Can someone explain to me how..why.. they use joules as a measurement when we're talking about a signal, right?

I know the relation between watts and joules, i just don't understand how we could even measure something that has no weight (current travelling from 'A' to 'B') in joules.
If that makes sense? Am not exactly versed in physics, so this may well sound dumb to you