NVIDIA DGX-A100 Systems Feature AMD EPYC "Rome" Processors

[btarunr]

NVIDIA is leveraging the 128-lane PCI-Express gen 4.0 root complex of AMD 2nd generation EPYC "Rome" enterprise processors in building its DGX-A100 super scalar compute systems that leverage the new A100 "Ampere" compute processors. Each DGX-A100 block is endowed with two AMD EPYC 7742 64-core/128-thread processors in a 2P setup totaling 128-cores/256-threads, clocked up to 3.40 GHz boost.

This 2P EPYC "Rome" processor setup is configured to feed PCIe gen 4.0 connectivity to eight NVIDIA A100 GPUs, and 8-port Mellanox ConnectX 200 Gbps InfiniBand NIC. Six NVSwitches provide NVLink connectivity complementing PCI-Express gen 4.0 from the AMD sIODs. The storage and memory subsystem is equally jaw-dropping: 1 TB of hexadeca-channel (16-channel) DDR4 memory, two 1.92 TB NVMe gen 4.0 SSDs, and 15 TB of U.2 NVMe drives (4x 3.84 TB units). The GPU memory of the eight A100 units add up to 320 GB (that's 8x 40 GB, 6144-bit HBM2E). When you power it up, you're greeted with the Ubuntu Linux splash screen. All this can be yours for USD $199,000.



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[ymbaja]

1980 called and wants it’s cork board back... seriously though wth is on the front of that thing?

 

[windwhirl]

I don't know how many DGX-A100 NVIDIA is looking to sell, but the idea that they could be one of AMD's most important clients gives me the giggles.

 

[LittlePaul]

I would say it is not 6144-bit HBM2E , but less

 

[dyonoctis]

1980 called and wants it’s cork board back... seriously though wth is on the front of that thing?

My hunch is that it's one of those thing that looks good in person, but doesn't look well in photo. It's probably a mix of matte and shiny liitle dots.

 

[noel_fs]

I don't know how many DGX-A100 NVIDIA is looking to sell, but the idea that they could be one of AMD's most important clients gives me the giggles.

not even close, the most important clients for amd are consoles afaik.

 

[RH92]

I don't know how many DGX-A100 NVIDIA is looking to sell, but the idea that they could be one of AMD's most important clients gives me the giggles.

They give back some of what they are about to take in the GPU market , it's called philanthropy

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Who else had the pciex lanes , I do like how they made sure to minimise any Pr gain for their competition.

 

[Houd.ini]

What other choice than AMD did they have if they needed PCI-E gen 4?

 

[dorsetknob]

Who else had the pciex lanes ,

BIG +

What other choice than AMD did they have if they needed PCI-E gen 4?

Even BIGGER +
They Could not afford to wait for Intel to Produce and Market a CPU Compeditive to the Feature's of the AMD (30 months in my estimate)

 

[R0H1T]

It also helps that an equivalent Intel chip would probably cost 2 kidneys & half a liver

So more margins for Nvidia!

 

[Bruno Vieira]

not even close, the most important clients for amd are consoles afaik.

margin is not great, so many datacenters require hacks and hacks full of those. But most important client for them is still DIY, just look at the earning calls

 

[Daven]

Most of Nvidia's marketing material is saying 'Rome' instead of 'Epyc'. Is AMD's brand name too over the top even for Nvidia?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

It also helps that an equivalent Intel chip would probably cost 2 kidneys & half a liver

So more margins for Nvidia!

Plus the power per unit would have increased.

Still it's a damn impressive server for AI and compute, few can doubt that.

Roll on other companies reply.

 

[Fluffmeister]

Most of Nvidia's marketing material is saying 'Rome' instead of 'Epyc'. Is AMD's brand name too over the top even for Nvidia?

Epyc is a silly name to be fair.

 

[Vya Domus]

To be fair one of the reason for going with AMD is probably that they want to give absolutely nothing to Intel in terms of market share. Remember, their biggest competitor right now is Intel, up until now they had no choice but to deal with them. No more I guess.

 

[Ashtr1x]

Is there any rumor or news piece that tell us next year Xeon having PCIe gen 4 ? RKL is having that but what about the Xeon ? guess Icelake SP is dead at this point to share the socket with Cooper Lake since the latter is dead and doesn't exist anymore due to 10nm failure, so Cascade Lake SP is the last of the Xeons and last from the Skylake uArch on LGA3647 socket.

If that's the case then once EPYC Milan launches it will decimate whatever Intel has left razed by Rome (EPYC 7742), where's their LGA4677 socket CPU ?

I think the LGA1200 is very short lived as we know, so there's no PCIe 4.0 Xeon at all then. And LGA1700 will start alongside LGA4677 with Gen 5 and DDR5 in 2022.

 

[prtskg]

Most of Nvidia's marketing material is saying 'Rome' instead of 'Epyc'. Is AMD's brand name too over the top even for Nvidia?

Because it specifies the generation. Epyc is ambiguous.

 

[Daven]

Because it specifies the generation. Epyc is ambiguous.

I thought that is what the model number is for (7742).

To be fair one of the reason for going with AMD is probably that they want to give absolutely nothing to Intel in terms of market share. Remember, their biggest competitor right now is Intel, up until now they had no choice but to deal with them. No more I guess.

I'm not sure this is the case given the huge onslaught of Intel/Nvidia laptops that have filled the pages of all the tech review sites lately.

 

[zlobby]

Wow, for a second I thought nvidia hacked TPU and flooded the newsfeed with propagand...

 

[Vya Domus]

I'm not sure this is the case given the huge onslaught of Intel/Nvidia laptops that have filled the pages of all the tech review sites lately.

Two different markets, with laptops they have to cater to both, with data centers they now have the choice to exclude Intel.

 

[zlobby]

Two different markets, with laptops they have to cater to both, with data centers they now have the choice to exclude Intel.

Eh, in all fairness new mobile Ryzen 4000 are quite a competitor in laptop market. I'd say AMD disrupted this market too, with intel performing worse and worse everywhere.

 

[ARF]

This is duplicity - consumers can use inferior laptop systems, while when it comes to us, then we of course will use the superior systems.

 

[Chomiq]

That front looks like a HEPA filter.

 

[Steevo]

Epyc is a silly name to be fair.

To be fair, Fluff is a silly name, but we like you, and AMD is selling them like hotcakes



Also it does sound like a stripper name from Vegas