AMD EPYC Server CPU Buyers Guide

EPYC 9004 is AMD’s foundation of a whole new SP5 platform that introduces lots of new features. Leadership memory bandwidth and capacity is provided by support for 12-channels of 12TB of DDR5 memory. In addition the I/O has been upgraded to 128 lanes of PCIe 5.0, providing double the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0. Finally, switching to a new 5nm manufacturing process enables the core count to be increased from 64 to an unparalleled 128 cores. There are various EPYC 9004 families detailed below - for single socket, dual socket and compute intensive servers - the latter featuring a massive 1,152MB 3D V-Cache, whilst all versions include AMD Infinity Guard cybersecurity features built into the hardware.

EPYC 8004 is AMD’s latest range of server processors aimed at manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and telco; and are the foundation of a whole new SP6 platform that introduces high-density attributes. EPYC 8004-series processors are based on the new Zen 4c architecture. These have the same overall capabilities as standard Zen 4 cores used in the EPYC 9004-series CPUs but have a lower power, higher-density design, providing up to 64 cores per socket designed for compact, single-socket servers, configured for six DDR5 memory channels and 96 lanes of PCIe 5.0 I/O. This makes EPYC 8004 CPUs ideally suited for power sensitive deployments, whilst still retaining the Infinity Guard cybersecurity features built into the hardware.

EPYC 4004 is AMD’s latest range of entry-level server processors, and are based on the tried and tested AM5 platform. These single-socket CPUs are ideal for small and medium businesses, departmental and branch office servers and hosted IT service providers. EPYC 4004 processors have up to 16 cores and 32 threads, support up to 192GB of DDR5 ECC memory and have 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes for add-in cards and NVMe SSDs.

EPYC 7003 processors are a range of single or dual-socket CPUs, all models featuring 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes - from the 8-core base model right up to the flagship 64-core model. However, it is worth pointing out that in dual-socket configurations half of the PCIe lanes are disabled and the resources inside the CPU used for inter-CPU communication, so the maximum number of useable lanes in a dual-socket EPYC system is 128. EPYC 7003 processors have up to 64 cores and 128 threads, support up to 4TB of DDR4 ECC Registered memory and have 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes for add-in cards and NVMe SSDs. There are various EPYC 7003 families detailed below - for single-socket, dual-socket and compute intensive servers - the latter featuring a massive 768MB 3D V-Cache, whilst all versions include AMD Infinity Guard cybersecurity features built into the hardware.

The EPYC 7002 processors is a range of single or dual socket CPUs, all models featuring 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes - from the 8-core base model right up to the flagship 64-core model. However it is worth pointing out that in dual socket configurations half of the PCIe lanes are disabled and the resources inside the CPU used for inter-CPU communication, so the maximum number of useable lanes in a dual-socket EPYC system is 128. EPYC 7002 processors have up to 64 cores and 128 threads, support up to 4TB of DDR4 ECC Registered memory and have 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes for add-in cards and NVMe SSDs. A dual-socket AMD EPYC workstation or server is idea for compute intensive tasks such as high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications thanks to their huge memory bandwidth, memory capacity and outstanding I/O.