AMD outs EPYC 9004 server processors with 96 Zen 4 cores, PCIe 5.0, and DDR5

The fourth generation of AMD's EPYC server CPUs are now available. These CPUs support PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 and feature up to 96 cores based on Zen 4 architecture. 

AMD EPYC 9004 processors are based on the Zen 4 architecture that AMD debuted with its Ryzen 7000 desktop processors. The processors are now manufactured using TSMC's 5nm process, whereas the previous EPYC Milan CPUs were manufactured using a 7nm process.  The new EPYC CPUs are comprised of multiple Zen 4 chiplets, each of which contains eight cores, similar to previous generations. However, AMD is increasing the maximum chiplet count per EPYC 9004 processor to twelve. This means that the highest model has 96 cores, whereas prior EPYC CPUs had 64 cores at most. Additionally, AMD is offering processors with 84, 64, 48, 32, 24, and 16 cores. The company offers a total of eighteen distinct models, including faster-clocked F versions.

• N5 at TSMC
• Zen 4 architecture
• 16 to 96 processor cores
• 12 channel memory interface
• Up to 6TB DDR5-4800
• 128 PCIe lanes Gen5 for single socket
• 160 PCIe lanes Gen5 for dual socket
• 64 CLX lanes
• + 14% IPC*

“Choosing the right data center processor is more important than ever, and 4th Gen EPYC processors deliver leadership in every dimension,” said Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD. “The data center represents the largest growth opportunity and most strategic priority for AMD, and we are committed to making AMD the partner of choice by offering the industry’s broadest portfolio of high-performance and adaptive computing engines. 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.”

Accelerating Results and Driving Actionable Insights for Businesses

4th Gen AMD EPYC processors are designed to deliver optimizations across market segments and applications, while helping businesses free data center resources to create additional workload processing and accelerate output.
With 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors, businesses can:

• Support Performance and Efficiency. With up to 96 cores in a single processor, the new AMD EPYC processors can enable customers to deploy fewer and more powerful servers to continue to meet their compute needs. This allows them to drive greater flexibility within the data center that can be leveraged to address business sustainability goals and drive real-world dividends.
• Help Keep Data Secure. Through a “Security by Design” approach, AMD continues to deliver enhanced security features in x86 CPUs. The 4th Gen AMD EPYC processor series expands on AMD Infinity Guard, a cutting-edge set of features that offers physical and virtual layers of protection. With 2X the number of encryption keys compared to previous generations, 4th Gen EPYC processors help customers keep data secure, whether it is stored locally, in the cloud, or residing in storage.
• Use the Latest Industry Features and Architectures. These processors continue to provide customers with an “all-in” feature set, with customers just needing to pick the core count and frequency that matches their workload needs. The 4th Gen AMD EPYC processor introduces support for DDR5 memory and PCIe® Gen 5, which are critical for AI and ML applications. In addition, 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors support CXL® 1.1+ for memory expansion, helping customers to meet demands for larger in-memory workload capacity.

All of these features and capabilities ultimately enable customers to use the 4th Gen EPYC processors to drive infrastructure consolidation with similar or better performance; thereby helping reduce the costs and energy consumption of their data center.

Expanding the AMD EPYC Processor Ecosystem

At the “together we advance_data centers” event, AMD executives were backed by numerous cloud, software and OEM partners including Dell Technologies, Google Cloud, HPE, Lenovo, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Supermicro and VMware. These partners highlighted their support for 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors:

• Dell Technologies announced the next generation of Dell PowerEdge servers with 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors. Providing impressive application performance, the new systems are designed to help customers more effectively power demanding, compute-centric workloads such as data analytics.
• Google Cloud discussed incorporating 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors into Google Cloud Compute Engine and highlighted how AMD EPYC processors in its data centers are helping Google with their efficiency goals. As well, they highlighted the use of AMD EPYC processors to deliver leading price-performance in the Google Cloud Tau VMs and highly-secure data protection with Google Cloud’s Confidential Computing portfolio.
• HPE announced new HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers that support 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors that are also available through a pay-as-you-go consumption model with HPE GreenLake. HPE also announced support for 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors across its supercomputing portfolio with the new HPE Cray EX2500 and HPE Cray XD2000 supercomputers.
• Lenovo introduced 21 new ThinkSystem servers and ThinkAgile hyperconverged (HCI) solutions, powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors, including ThinkAgile VX and ThinkAgile HX to enable fast hybrid multi-cloud deployment and simplify infrastructure management.
• Microsoft announced a Preview of new Virtual Machines (VMs) for HPC. HBv4-series VMs and the all new HX-series VMs are both powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors. Each will feature AMD 3D V-Cache™ Technology when they reach General Availability in 2023. Microsoft also announced additional VMs and containers using 4th Gen AMD EPYC are forthcoming.
• The latest Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) E5 compute instances are powered by 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors to be used by customers such as Oracle Red Bull Racing for development of their next generation of powertrain projects. Oracle will also provide enhanced security with OCI Confidential Computing, based on AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV). 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors additionally power MySQL HeatWave, Oracle Autonomous Database and Exadata Database Service on OCI.
• Supermicro announced significant additions to its broad line of servers supporting the new 4th Gen AMD EPYC processors in the A+ series
• VMware announced vSphere® 8 support and optimization for 4th Gen EPYC processor powered systems is available now.

4th Gen AMD EPYC can provide up to 2.8X more performance, up to 54 percent less power, have added to the more than 300 world records held by AMD EPYC processors and are supported by a complete software and hardware ecosystem spanning a variety of workloads including, database, virtualization, AI/ML, HPC and more. You can see more about the AMD EPYC ecosystem here.