Tech

AMD EPYC: What you need to know

Here's what you need to know about AMD's new EPYC server processors.

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor June 21, 2017 at 6:56 a.m. PT

AMD's new EPYC server processors are here, and we've got the rundown.

First off, here are the processors that have been released. There are nine in total, ranging from 8-core/16-thread parts all the way up to 32-core/64-thread parts.

The EPYC 7000-series processors all have the following features:

Up to 32 high-performance "Zen" cores
Eight DDR4 channels per CPU
Up to 2TB RAM per CPU
128 PCIe lanes
Dedicated security subsystem
Integrated chipset
Socket-compatible with next-gen EPYC processors

AMD uses Infinity Fabric for both die-to-die and socket-to-socket interconnect (in a dual-socket arrangement, each processor dedicates 64 PCIe lanes to Infinity Fabric).

Infinity Fabric allows for near-perfect performance scaling when going from single-socket to dual-socket servers.

AMD has designed EPYC to allow for "no compromise" single-socket systems with no artificial limitations placed on performance.

EPYC also features new CPU instructions specifically aimed at the data center.

EPYC offer a far better bang-per-buck compared to Intel Xeon Broadwell servers in both single- and dual-socket configurations across all price points.

EPYC also features built-in hardware memory encryption specifically designed to protect virtual machines and containers from each other.