With its code names based on Italian cities, AMD's EPYC range is evolving at a pace that leaves one dreaming... or dreaming, depending on the choice.
Currently, AMD distributes the EPYC Milan (EPYC 7003) range, which has allowed the EPYC Rome to evolve towards the Zen 3 architecture, but the number of cores has not evolved since we remain at chips composed of 64 cores / 128 threads, engraved using the 7 nm process. This range of processors for servers should evolve soon with the release of the EPYC Genoa which will allow the introduction of the Zen 4 architecture and their 4 nm process. These chips should mark a definite evolution since it will be 96 cores / 192 threads and a new socket, the LGA6096.
If we believe the latest roadmap of AMD, the EPYC Genoa (EPYC 7004) could land next year although it would be more about the second half of 2022 rather than the first half of the year. Always engraved according to the 5 nm process, the successor of Genoa will be the EPYC Bergamo. It should logically allow an optimization of the organization of the chip to accommodate more cores: the latest information suggests the presence of 128 cores / 256 threads for a chip that would logically arrive during 2023.
ZEN5 EPYC should also have two configurations.
192C 384T
256C 512T- Greymon55 (@greymon55) October 28, 2021
It is from here that we will begin to seriously talk about the next step, the EPYC Turin that we mention in the title of this brief. Of course, the horizon is still far away - we talk about a release in 2024 or 2025 - but the "menu" of these EPYC Turin underlines that AMD wants to continue its rise to power. First of all, the Turin EPYCs will be the occasion to integrate the future Zen 5 architecture, and they will also be the occasion to take advantage of a new engraving process, the 3 nm from TSMC. Two developments that will allow an exceptional concentration: our colleagues from WCCFTech relayed tweets mentioning the presence of two configurations: the first in 192 cores / 384 threads and the second with no less than 256 cores / 512 threads.
EPYC Turin would then be a real monster in terms of current data sheets, but despite a fineness of engraving always more important, the "stacking" of cores mechanically leads to a very significant increase in power consumption. In the case of an EPYC Milan with 64 cores, we are talking about a TDP of 225/280 Watts. According to ExecutableFix, a processor like this EPYC Turin with 256 cores / 512 threads would lead to a sharp increase in TDP: it could reach 480 / 600 Watts. Of course, things have plenty of time to move between now and 2025, but we can legitimately ask ourselves if all this is reasonable?
