AMD announces Epyc 9004: up to 96 cores for around $12,000

[mongeese]

In context: AMD took the audience on a roller coaster ride as it unveiled the fourth generation of Epyc data center processors at a live event last week. The presenters hurled number after number at the audience the whole way through, so buckle up as we break them down.

We should start with the name of the series: 9004, following on from 7003, 7002, and 7001. Why the nine? Not sure, but the trailing four is a reference to both the generation and the architecture, Zen 4. The codename for the series is/was Genoa, continuing AMD's tradition of naming Epyc series after Italian cities, which in the past has included Milan, Rome, and Naples.

AMD has also developed an affinity for the number five. Eight channels of DDR4 have become twelve channels of DDR5-4800 (for up to 6 TB per socket), and 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 have given way to 128 lanes of PCIe 5.0 and 64 lanes of CXL 1.1+. The series also switches from TSMC 7nm to 5nm and adopts a new socket, called SP5 (LGA 6096). And lastly, AMD finally joins Intel with support for the AVX-512 instruction set.

Model	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost Clock	Default TDP	Price (USD)*
Epyc 9654	96 / 192	2.40 / 3.70 GHz	360W	$11,805
Epyc 9654P	96 / 192	2.40 / 3.70 GHz	360W	$10,625
Epyc 9634	84 / 168	2.25 / 3.70 GHz	290W	$10,304
Epyc 9554	64 / 128	3.10 / 3.75 GHz	360W	$9,087
Epyc 9554P	64 / 128	3.10 / 3.75 GHz	360W	$7,104
Epyc 9534	64 / 128	2.45 / 3.70 GHz	280W	$8,803

*All prices are for orders of 1000 units.

AMD announced 18 models in total (tabulated above and below). They span from 16 cores to 96 and have suffixes that denote their type: F, for fast and inefficient; P, for single-socket only; and no suffix, for normal and dual-socket. AMD shared far more detailed specs than we could fit here, things like cache capacities and configurable TDPs, so if you're interested, start with AMD's data sheet and then check out their documentation page for Genoa.

Model	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost Clock	Default TDP	Price (USD)*
Epyc 9474F	48 / 96	3.60 / 4.10 GHz	360W	$6,780
Epyc 9454	48 / 96	2.75 / 3.80 GHz	290W	$5,225
Epyc 9454P	48 / 96	2.75 / 3.80 GHz	290W	$4,598
Epyc 9374F	32 / 64	3.85 / 4.30 GHz	320W	$4,850
Epyc 9354	32 / 64	3.25 / 3.80 GHz	280W	$3,420
Epyc 9354P	32 / 64	3.25 / 3.80 GHz	280W	$2,730
Epyc 9334	32 / 64	2.70 / 3.90 GHz	210W	$2,990

AMD is claiming that Zen 4 has a ~14% IPC advantage over Zen 3 in server scenarios. It says the uplift is attributable to a doubling of the L2 cache capacity to 1 MB and improvements in the front end, branch prediction, load/store, and the execution engine. Genoa also more than doubles the theoretical memory bandwidth of each socket from 205 GB/s to 461 GB/s.

Added with the slightly higher clock speed and the vastly increased core count of the 9654, the new flagship is 1.9x faster than the previous one, according to AMD, which used the Java-based SPECjbb 2015 tool as a benchmark. Of course, the 9654 costs $11,805, and the 64-core 7763 costs a third less at $7,890, but the Genoa part is still better value.

Model	Cores / Threads	Base / Boost Clock	Default TDP	Price (USD)*
Epyc 9274F	24 / 48	4.05 / 4.30 GHz	320W	$3,060
Epyc 9254	24 / 48	2.90 / 4.14 GHz	200W	$2,299
Epyc 9224	24 / 48	2.50 / 3.70 GHz	200W	$1,825
Epyc 9174F	16 / 32	4.10 / 4.40 GHz	320W	$3,850
Epyc 9124	16 / 32	3.00 / 3.70 GHz	200W	$1,083

If you're not sold on AMD's cherry-picked numbers, Phoronix has a comprehensive launch day review of the 9654 and the 9554. It's worth a read, but the bottom line says that the new Epyc parts come out on top in every multi-core benchmark and land amidst the Intel Xeon parts in light single-threaded workloads. Genoa's flagships just "more" in every way: more performance, more power consumption, and more expensive. But they're so fast that they're still more efficient and better value than the competition.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96633-amd-announces-epyc-9004-up-96-cores-around.html

 

[Puiu]

With Intel's Sapphire Rapids delayed to 2023, the AMD presentation was a bloodbath. Intel needs another generation on top of Sapphire Rapids for them to catch up. That's without taking into account the future 3D cache server CPUs and Zen5.

 

[takaozo]

If I was still a sysadmin I would sure get my hands on one of these CPU's. I would love a ESX cluster with dual socket chassis and a bunch of ram. Last two servers I purchased before I left old job were AMD dual socket EPIC's, AMD EPYC 7302. But yeah Intel got nothing at this time to compete with AMD server side.

 

[VitalyT]

I remember, not so long ago, a massive sell-off of EPYC cpu-s, with about 95% price discount, shortly after the new gen came out. Those simply have no market when the new gen is out, except for a small niche of enthusiasts.

It might happen this time again, to snap a 64-core Gen3 for about $200.

 

[punctualturn]

A shame that companies like mine only buy Dell and insist on intel cpus.

The performance on these new cpus is simply insane, good for AMD

I am glad that my division is more flexible and we buy what we want, but it’s tough for amd with ][diots like the ones in charge of purchasing in my organization.

Meanwhile…

 

[captaincranky]

With that price tag, Intel's "buy more CPU when you need it", doesn't seem so far fetched, now does it?

 

[scavengerspc]

I'm building the first desktop for myself in 15 years and am back and forth on parts I want to use.
Are these Epyc CPUs overclockable? And if so, would they be as good for gaming?

I would look to the 9374F since it can boost to 4.3 GHz.

 

[captaincranky]

Are these Epyc CPUs overclockable? And if so, would they be as good for gaming?

Probably not. That said, they'll probably TFLOP their fu*king brains out. Ask yourself this,"are games being written with 64 threads in mind, let alone 128"?

Most of the cheering section here, have absolutely no need, and more than likely can't afford, such a CPU. But, it's AMD so "hoorah".(As they say in the Marine corps).

Later on, when someone with a 13900 kicks your a** in a game, you can chalk it up to, "pilot error".

"Yeah well, he used more electricity than me, so there". That's cheating".

As I've said many times before, "I build with Intel, simply because I'm, familiar with their product, and it always seems to work". I'm certainly not a rabid fanboy of theirs. And well, even if I'm doing it wrong, "ignorance is bliss".

The biggest problems I have now are software based. The latest "final comprehensive security update" to Windows 7, for all intents and purposes, bricks the machine. I can't even navigate to Wikipedia or Walmart without overriding a security warning..!

So, IMO, the douches in Redmond, bricked the OS on purpose, willfully, and with malice aforethought.

 

[takaozo]

A shame that companies like mine only buy Dell and insist on intel cpus.

The performance on these new cpus is simply insane, good for AMD

I am glad that my division is more flexible and we buy what we want, but it’s tough for amd with ][diots like the ones in charge of purchasing in my organization.

Meanwhile…

My last job also had a global contract with Dell Premier for all computing devices. But they were not so stiff when it came to value for money. When it put on table both offers with Intel and AMD for same money, AMD offer was the same price but more cores, ram and storage. So it was real easy to prove value here.

I'm building the first desktop for myself in 15 years and am back and forth on parts I want to use.
Are these Epyc CPUs overclockable? And if so, would they be as good for gaming?

I would look to the 9374F since it can boost to 4.3 GHz.

Server motherboards never had OCK options in last 20 years, at least Dell, HP or IBM I worked with. Can't tell if Tyan or others include such options.
Gaming on server CPU's, never try this myself since I didn't have a ATX MB at hand or a server chassis that can take a 2 slot VGA.
But server CPU's have more cache then consumer ones, should go just fine.
Have some friends gaming on Xeon's but the power draw and price do not make sense to me.

 

[neeyik]

Are these Epyc CPUs overclockable? And if so, would they be as good for gaming?

Have a read of our Threadripper Pro 5995WX review. Those CPUs are essentially cut-down EPYCs and you can see that they’re okay for gaming with, but a standard desktop model, with higher clock speeds, is always going to be better (in some games, a lot better). But in the role that they’re really designed for, Threadrippers/EPYCs are absolutely perfect.

 

[captaincranky]

Server motherboards never had OCK options in last 20 years, at least Dell, HP or IBM I worked with. Can't tell if Tyan or others include such options.

At the outset, be forewarned, this is pure speculation and "intuition". I seriously doubt that anybody's servers are overclockable out of the box.. Server chassis are fairly cramped, and cooling is an issue from the jump. Ostensibly, dual CPU boards should eliminate the need, at least with with the type of tasks they are likely to encounter.. If you need more "oomph", you just "throw another log on the fire", so to speak.So, heat, stability, and longevity make overclocking impractical.

A few years back, we had a thread where M$ (?) was experimenting with submerging an entire installation underwater, and using the surrounding water as the coolant.

I don't know if there's any crossover between the naming of chips between consumer and pro naming conventions But as you well know, if it doesn't have a "K" behind the part number you can't overclock it anyway. (Obviously, that's consumer naming convention. IDK if it carries over to server chips being specially marked).

 

[wiyosaya]

At the outset, be forewarned, this is pure speculation and "intuition". I seriously doubt that anybody's servers are overclockable out of the box.. Server chassis are fairly cramped, and cooling is an issue from the jump. Ostensibly, dual CPU boards should eliminate the need, at least with with the type of tasks they are likely to encounter.. If you need more "oomph", you just "throw another log on the fire", so to speak.So, heat, stability, and longevity make overclocking impractical.

If you are buying prebuilt certainly a consideration, but if you are building from scratch, server MBs, at least when I bought a Tyan MB many years ago, can be found that will fit in desktop cases. In that case (pun intended) cooling should not be a problem.

 

[Irata]

I remember, not so long ago, a massive sell-off of EPYC cpu-s, with about 95% price discount, shortly after the new gen came out. Those simply have no market when the new gen is out, except for a small niche of enthusiasts.

It might happen this time again, to snap a 64-core Gen3 for about $200.

I very much doubt you‘ll see a sell-off for Milan Epyc. Never heard of a ‚95% off‘ Epyc sale previously. Was that first gen ?

The reason is quite simple - Zen 4 Epyc is a very expensive platform having more expensive boards and 12 DDR5 channels that need to be populated vs 8 DDR 4 channels.

Servethehome mentioned in their Zen 4 Epyc review that Milan is still the best option for mid range servers. A bit like with Zen 4 where the 7950x is the top pick for productivity but the platform itself is still too expensive for the lower tier models.

In the case of servers, Milan is still the second best option so if you can‘t justify spending much more for e.g. a 32C Genoa server, Milan is the logical alternative.

 

[scavengerspc]

Probably not. That said, they'll probably TFLOP their fu*king brains out. Ask yourself this,"are games being written with 64 threads in mind, let alone 128"?

Most of the cheering section here, have absolutely no need, and more than likely can't afford, such a CPU. But, it's AMD so "hoorah".(As they say in the Marine corps).

Later on, when someone with a 13900 kicks your a** in a game, you can chalk it up to, "pilot error".

"Yeah well, he used more electricity than me, so there". That's cheating".

As I've said many times before, "I build with Intel, simply because I'm, familiar with their product, and it always seems to work". I'm certainly not a rabid fanboy of theirs. And well, even if I'm doing it wrong, "ignorance is bliss".

The biggest problems I have now are software based. The latest "final comprehensive security update" to Windows 7, for all intents and purposes, bricks the machine. I can't even navigate to Wikipedia or Walmart without overriding a security warning..!

So, IMO, the douches in Redmond, bricked the OS on purpose, willfully, and with malice aforethought.

My last job also had a global contract with Dell Premier for all computing devices. But they were not so stiff when it came to value for money. When it put on table both offers with Intel and AMD for same money, AMD offer was the same price but more cores, ram and storage. So it was real easy to prove value here.

Server motherboards never had OCK options in last 20 years, at least Dell, HP or IBM I worked with. Can't tell if Tyan or others include such options.
Gaming on server CPU's, never try this myself since I didn't have a ATX MB at hand or a server chassis that can take a 2 slot VGA.
But server CPU's have more cache then consumer ones, should go just fine.
Have some friends gaming on Xeon's but the power draw and price do not make sense to me.

Have a read of our Threadripper Pro 5995WX review. Those CPUs are essentially cut-down EPYCs and you can see that they’re okay for gaming with, but a standard desktop model, with higher clock speeds, is always going to be better (in some games, a lot better). But in the role that they’re really designed for, Threadrippers/EPYCs are absolutely perfect.

Ok thanks guys. Looks like I will stick with Ryzen 9\i9 parts.

 

[Lounds]

Looks like AMD is going to win a lot of big data center contracts. Wouldn't be surprised if Amazon and Microsoft will be buying these in mass.

 

[captaincranky]

If you are buying prebuilt certainly a consideration, but if you are building from scratch, server MBs, at least when I bought a Tyan MB many years ago, can be found that will fit in desktop cases. In that case (pun intended) cooling should not be a problem.

Perhaps so, but, you still have to deal with the issue of ECC memory with server chips and boards.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Still cheaper than Sapphire Rapids top cpu which is leaked at $12800 or so for 56 cores.

 

[wiyosaya]

Perhaps so, but, you still have to deal with the issue of ECC memory with server chips and boards.

IMO, though it may be more expensive, its not really that much different that standard desktop memory. Back in the day, ECC memory was slower than standard desktop memory. One of the things that makes server memory is buffering - which is providing a boost to the data and/or address bits between the memory module and the memory bus. To get the massive amounts of memory that some of these systems support, the bus must be buffered as the bus is incapable of providing signal levels that produce reliable memory transfers for the number of memory modules that are required for such massive amounts of memory.

Heck, even desktop systems have their limitations on the amount of chips they will support. Some will support "dual rank" modules, some not.

But we were not talking about memory support, were we? I thought we were talking about heat dissipation.

No one was challenging your conclusions, Captain, however, there is more than one way to skin a server.

 

[wiyosaya]

Still cheaper than Sapphire Rapids top cpu which is leaked at $12800 or so for 56 cores.

No surprises there. Intel will be Intel.

 

[wiyosaya]

Ok thanks guys. Looks like I will stick with Ryzen 9\i9 parts.

I know you were not asking, but also, don't bother with a "pro" graphics card. Such cards are not optimized for gaming - take my word for it, I've tried.

 

[captaincranky]

Heck, even desktop systems have their limitations on the amount of chips they will support. Some will support "dual rank" modules, some not.

Something I am more than acutely aware of, in trying to get 8 GB of RAM, into a 2 slot G-41 board.. High density sticks abound, but only AMD boards in those years will accept them. Those compatible with Intel's low density requirements are as rare as hen's teeth.

No one was challenging your conclusions, Captain, however, there is more than one way to skin a server.

Nor am I challenging yours. If a board is ATX spec, it will bolt into a case that accepts ATX boards.. However, you can't take a rack mounted server system apart, and stuff it piece by piece into tower style "gaming cases" to promote better cooling either. Picture that nightmare.

Noctua offers fans which are notoriously quiet. However, that's their consumer line, which tops out at 2K rpm. They also offer "pro" fans which spin at 3K rpm. Those aren't anywhere near as quiet. They do however, move a crap ton more air.

I dimly recall an article here involving someone experimenting with,. or outright using, ARM chips for servers. I think the point was high energy efficiency / low heat.

 

[wiyosaya]

Noctua offers fans which are notoriously quiet. However, that's their consumer line, which tops out at 2K rpm. They also offer "pro" fans which spin at 3K rpm. Those aren't anywhere near as quiet. They do however, move a crap ton more air.

I've used Scythe fans in the past as they are also notoriously quiet. I cannot say I have compared them against Noctua, but their air flow seems quite high for the dB ratings they achieve.

I dimly recall an article here involving someone experimenting with,. or outright using, ARM chips for servers. I think the point was high energy efficiency / low heat.

That would not surprise me, but I am ignorant of ARM chips in general.