Highlights:

  • Businesses can use the 4th Gen AMD Epyc processors to free up data center resources to process more workloads and increase output.
  • The core counts of the processors range from 16 to 96, and their power also range from 200 to 400 watts.

Recently, Advanced Micro Devices introduced the 4th Gen Epyc processors, the company’s highest-performing data center CPUs to date.

The new line of 4th Gen AMD Epyc processors based on the Zen 4 architecture, which was the highest-performance core ever from AMD, was revealed by Lisa Su, CEO of Santa Clara, California-based AMD.

She said that the processors offer superior performance (than its competitor, Intel) and energy efficiency. Furthermore, they can assist clients in hastening the upgrading of their data centers for increased application throughput and more valuable insights.

The top Epyc processors from AMD can now fit 96 cores and perform 14% more instructions per clock cycle than the 3rd Gen Epyc processors launched in 2021.

She added, “We have built the best data center CPU roadmap in the industry, and with 4th Gen EPYC we deliver another major step forward in performance and efficiency to make the best server processor roadmap even better. With a significantly expanded set of solutions on track to launch from our ecosystem of partners, customers selecting 4th Gen EPYC to power their data centers can improve performance, consolidate their infrastructure and lower energy costs.”

Su mentioned that the code name Genoa is intended for general-purpose applications during the event. In the first half of 2023, Bergamo will be released for the cloud. Genoa-X will debut in the first half of 2023 for technical computing, and Siena will debut in the second half, optimized for performance per watt.

Details of 4th Gen AMD Epyc

Businesses can use the 4th Gen AMD Epyc processors to free up data center resources to process more workloads and increase output. According to AMD, the chips (each can have up to 96 cores) allow users to deploy fewer, more potent servers to continue to meet their computing needs.

The chips extend on AMD Infinity Guard, which provides both physical and virtual layers of security, by implementing the “security by design” approach. Compared to earlier generations, it has twice as many encryption keys.

The core counts of the processors range from 16 to 96, and their power consumption also ranges from 200 to 400 watts. DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5 are supported by the Gen 4 processors, which are essential for Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). For memory extension, the CPUs also support CXL 1.1 .

The 4th Gen AMD Epyc processors, according to Ram Peddibhotla, corporate vice president for product management at AMD, have shattered 300 distinct performance records. He claimed that compared to Intel chips, the competitive gap is growing.

Peddibhotla said, “With the introduction of 4th Gen Epyc, we take another step-function and performance that pulls that Epyc curve dramatically upwards and extends our leadership even farther.”

The development of AMD’s Epyc began in 2017 when its well-designed Zen 1 core significantly increased its ability to compete with Intel’s then-dominant microprocessors.

The market adopted server and consumer products.

According to Peddibhotla, AMD’s Milan Epyc version had a 40% performance advantage over Intel’s Icelake by 2021, and the company is currently developing its fourth iteration of the Epyc processor family.

Peddibhotla said, “We are targeting general-purpose computing with a balanced approach. It spans every market segment you can think of. And that’s the beauty of the approach we are taking. It’s not narrowly targeted toward a tiny sliver of a certain use case.”

Analyst comments

The goal, according to Peddibhotla, is to develop the world’s best general-purpose data center CPU. Analysts are impressed by the newest product, code-named Genoa.

According to Peddibhotla, the 4th Gen Epyc outperforms the 3rd Gen Epyc in cloud applications by 107%. He says it performs 123% better on high-performance computing and 94% better on enterprise apps.

AMD has a long list of upcoming goods, including its 5th Gen Epyc processors, which will be available in 2024.

Mike Clark, a corporate fellow and silicon design engineer at AMD, mentioned that the engineering team was pushing performance, instructions per clock cycle, and frequency all at once. They used a bigger L2 memory cache to combat latency, and dynamic power approaches allowed them to use less energy. Additionally, it contains upgrades for security and ML.

A 5-nanometer and 6-nanometer hybrid manufacturing technique will be used to make the chips. According to AMD’s corporate fellow and silicon design engineer for server SoCs, Kevin Lepak, the 96 cores can simultaneously process 192 threads, and the power consumption ranges from 200 watts to 400 watts.

AMD compared the performance to Intel’s 40-core third-generation Xeon processor (since it could not obtain Intel’s most recent chips for sale).

The 96-core 4th Gen Epyc processor from AMD scored 1,790, over three times the 602 scores of the Intel CPU on a crucial benchmark. And at 861, it had twice the performance of AMD’s own 64-core third-generation Epyc processor.

In comparison to AMD’s 4th Gen Epyc CPUs, Intel’s two-processor server chips needed 15 server racks in a data center, according to AMD. That required 54% less power and had a 67% smaller footprint. According to Peddibhotla, the power difference was sufficient to save 30 acres of forest for one year.

Peddibhotla said, “There is a dramatic difference. We use fewer servers, use less power, and have lower emissions. If you adopt the five servers, you get the carbon sequestration equivalent of 30 acres of forests per year. We think 4th Gen Epyc is the best server processor to have ever come to market.”