AMD’s New 280W 64-Core Rome CPU: The EPYC 7H12
by Dr. Ian Cutress on September 18, 2019 9:15 AM EST
If there’s something that gets everyone excited, it is more performance. On the Enterprise side, AMD has made big strides with its latest EPYC processor stack, featuring up to 64 cores per socket with 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes and 8-channel memory, featuring a very high performance per dollar in the marketplace. In order to coincide with the launch of the processor line-up in Europe today, AMD is unveiling a new chip to act as the new Halo product: the EPYC 7H12.
The new processor features a higher base frequency and a higher boost frequency that the previous top-of-the-line processor, the EPYC 7742. The new EPYC 7H12 has a rated TDP of 280W, and as a result the chip is being marketed for server environments that offer liquid cooled solutions only. AMD is very specific about this, especially in the market for which this CPU is aimed at. One of AMD’s main partners, Atos, is set to offer an 1U solution featuring eight of these CPUs, all liquid cooled.
| AMD EPYC 7002 Processors (2P) | ||||||
| Cores Threads |
Frequency (GHz) | L3* | TDP | Price | ||
| Base | Max | |||||
| EPYC 7H12 | 64 / 128 | 2.60 | 3.30 | 256 MB | 280 W | ? |
| EPYC 7742 | 64 / 128 | 2.25 | 3.40 | 256 MB | 225 W | $6950 |
| EPYC 7702 | 64 / 128 | 2.00 | 3.35 | 256 MB | 200 W | $6450 |
| EPYC 7642 | 48 / 96 | 2.30 | 3.20 | 256 MB | 225 W | $4775 |
| EPYC 7552 | 48 / 96 | 2.20 | 3.30 | 192 MB | 200 W | $4025 |
For a base frequency, the EPYC 7H12 will be set at 2.6 GHz, and a turbo frequency of 3.3 GHz. Compared to the EPYC 7742, that’s +350 MHz on base and -100 MHz on turbo, for an increase in +55W TDP. The higher TDP means the 7H12 is expected to have an all-core turbo a lot higher than the 7742. The EPYC 7H12 is socket compatible with all other Rome processors.
With this new CPU, AMD is clearly going after the high-performance compute market. The chip still affords the same specifications as the rest of the stack, such as the PCIe lanes, the memory support, and security features, should any other market be interested, but AMD expects this CPU to be installed in large HPC datacenters. AMD published raw LINPACK metrics with a performance uplift of the 7H12 over the 7742 at around 11%.
We asked AMD if this is a chip designed for specific partners who can enable liquid cooling servers, or for any OEM that wants it. AMD responded stating the latter – this chip will have general availability, but given the target market, they are pushing it only for liquid cooled HPC systems. AMD states they have other processors better suited to certain other fields, such as finance.
We expect AMD’s OEM partners to be evaluating the 7H12 for their system offerings, with further announcements in due course.
Related Reading
- AMD Rome Second Generation EPYC Review: 2x 64-core Benchmarked
- The AMD 2nd Gen EPYC "Rome" Launch Live Blog
- Lenovo Launches ThinkSystem SR635 & SR655 Servers with AMD’s EPYC ‘Rome’ CPUs
- AMD Zen 2 Microarchitecture Analysis: Ryzen 3000 and EPYC Rome
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web2dot0 - Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - link
1U (8 Rome CPUs) = 512 cores/1024 threads (~2500w)42U per rack = 21k cores/ 42k threads (94kw)
Probably need 200Gbps Infiniband to hook them up too.
Probably not realistic in terms of power density, but it's fun to just write about it.
Supercell99 - Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - link
AOC and the demonuts have just stated that they are carbon capping all new CPU's starting in 2021 to 15W and 42U racks to 300W. All new datacenters must be carbon and toxic neutral.JoeAceJR - Thursday, September 19, 2019 - link
Don't worry Intel will just lower the frequency like crazy.JoeAceJR - Thursday, September 19, 2019 - link
Supercell99 Where did you find that information? I am no demoncrat but I really want to see that article that says that they want to carbon cap processors. I tried googling it and found nothing.ACE76 - Thursday, September 19, 2019 - link
They aren't carbon capping CPUs per se...they will be taxing companies that expend a lot of energy...so as a result, the companies themselves will take measures to lower the energy consumption...or they will invest in green energy that can be used to keep data centers operating at full tilt.peevee - Thursday, September 19, 2019 - link
Humor alert.Manabu - Monday, September 23, 2019 - link
And the Coal lobby and repnuts just stated they are banning all the more energy efficient server offers to force companies to spend more on energy and save their obsolete industrie that is dying a natural death. See, I can create stupid fake news too.MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - link
“For a base frequency, the EPYC 7H12 will be set at 2.6 GHz, and a turbo frequency of 3.3 GHz. Compared to the EPYC 7742, that’s +350 MHz on base and -100 MHz on turbo, for an increase in +55W TDP. ”The chart currently shows a 100MHz turbo reduction for the 7H12. Me thinks something is wrong?
MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - link
Edit: and by that, I mean, why the turbo drop but TDP increase? Higher base clock keeps it from boosting?DanNeely - Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - link
I'm assuming that the customer who drove these has loads that make them more concerned about sustained performance at full load rather than short term peak performance on bursty loads. In which case AMD might be binning the chips for this based off of the clocks achieved by the slowest core on the chip not the fastest one. (See yesterdays article on how AMD Turbo works if you don't understand why this is relevant.)