AMD's EPYC Bergamo: Cloud-Native CPU Based on Zen 4c Architecture

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The AMD EPYC 'Bergamo' is a cloud-optimized CPU with Zen 4c microarchitecture and exhibits a core size reduction of 50% compared to its Zen 4 predecessor. The EPYC 'Bergamo' comprises 128 cores and aligns with the Socket SP5, the same as the 96-core EPYC 'Genoa'. 



The processor incorporates a 12-channel DDR5-4800 memory subsystem and incorporates the 'Floyd' I/O die, supplying 128 PCIe Gen5 lanes along with other SP5 specific traits. As a cloud-native system-on-chip (SoC), Bergamo is developed with a focus on operational efficiency, power consumption, die size, and comprehensive total cost of ownership (TCO), instead of prioritizing per-core performance exclusively. This strategic approach is in response to the rise of Arm-based datacenter-grade SoCs by firms such as Ampere, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

The Zen 4c microarchitecture preserves the Zen 4 design elements and instructions-per-clock efficiency, but employs a distinctive implementation strategy. SemiAnalysis reports that the Zen 4c 'Dionysus' cores are around 35.4% smaller than Zen 4 'Persephone' cores. To accomplish this reduction, AMD incorporated several design modifications:

  1. Reduction in boost clock targets from 3.70 GHz to 3.10 GHz, facilitating denser signal pathway packing and simplifying timing closure.
  2. Decreasing the number of physical partitions and clustering logic more closely, leading to a smaller die size.
  3. Opting for denser 6T dual-port SRAM cells over 8T dual-port SRAM circuits, which effectively shrinks the SRAM area. Despite Zen 4c caches being smaller and slower than Zen 4, this decision results in an overall reduction of cache space.
  4. Eliminating through-silicon via (TSV) arrays for 3D V-Cache to conserve silicon.

Further methods were applied to decrease die area. The Bergamo SoC incorporates eight Vindhya core complex dies (CCDs), each housing 16 Zen 4c cores (double the Zen 4 cores per CCD). Each CCD consists of two eight-core core complexes (CCX) with 32MB of L3 cache, allocating 16MB per CCX. In contrast, a Zen 4 CCX has 32MB of L2 cache, which is larger than the Zen 4c CCX.

AMD is expected to introduce two Bergamo processors this month: the 128-core EPYC 9754 and a slightly modified 112-core EPYC 9734. Keeping in mind the distinctive needs of exascale datacenter operators, AMD will likely develop tailored and semi-custom Bergamo models in the future. However, the immediate focus is on the launch of these two models next week.

AMD's EPYC Bergamo: Cloud-Native CPU Based on Zen 4c Architecture


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