What is an AMD EPYC CPU or Processor?

The Central Processing Unit, or the CPU, is one of the most critical components to consider when buying or building a new server or upgrading an existing one. The AMD EPYC family of processors are designed for both single and dual-socket workstations and servers. This guide will take you through the AMD EPYC range of products to ensure you choose the best processor for your applications and workloads.

It is essential when choosing your EPYC CPU (or CPUs if multiple are required) that you choose a compatible motherboard so we'll indicate this for each processor family as we go through them. As AMD has a regular upgrade cycle for their product range it is vital to know if you are looking at the latest generation, and if you’re considering an upgrade what CPU supersedes your current one, so we’ll cover this too.

AMD EPYC Logo

EPYC is aimed squarely at the workstation and server markets, so these CPUs typically offer more cores than mainstream PC CPUs, but the clock speeds don’t necessarily directly compare well to their Ryzen counterparts. EPYC CPUs tend to have a lot more built-in business-critical technology - for example, they support error-correcting code (ECC) memory, which prevents data corruption and system crashes. For businesses where continuous workloads are mission-critical, even a few hours downtime can cost far more than ECC memory is worth. Also EPYC processors support far higher memory bandwidth and more RAM capacity than Ryzen range CPUs do, as well as many more PCIe lanes for connecting add-in cards and NVMe SSDs. With all these extra features, scalability and fail-safes, naturally, the price reflects this.

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AMD EPYC 9004 Processors

AMD EPYC 7002P-series

EPYC 9004 is AMD’s latest and highest performance range of server processors, and are the 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.

AMD EPYC 9004 Lineup

AMD EPYC 9004

Designed for dual-socket servers for everyday workloads

Cores: up to 96
Level 3 Cache: up to 384MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 12-channel DDR5
TDP: 200-400W
Architecture: Zen 4, Genoa

AMD EPYC 9004F

Designed for dual-socket servers for frequency-sensitive workloads

Cores: up to 48
Level 3 Cache: 256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 12-channel DDR5
TDP: 320-360W
Architecture: Zen 4, Genoa

AMD EPYC 9004P

Designed for single-socket servers for everyday workloads

Cores: up to 96
Level 3 Cache: up to 384MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 12-channel DDR5
TDP: 240-400W
Architecture: Zen 4, Genoa

AMD EPYC 9004X

Designed for dual-socket servers for HPC and scientific computing workloads

Cores: up to 96
Level 3 Cache: up to 1152MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 12-channel DDR5
TDP: 320-400W
Architecture: Zen 4, Genoa-X

AMD EPYC 9704

Designed for high density dual-socket servers running cloud native workloads

Cores: up to 128
Level 3 Cache: up to 256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 12-channel DDR5
TDP: 340-360W
Architecture: Zen 4c, Bergamo

LATEST ACHITECTUREZen 4 and Zen 4c

COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARDSSP5

PREVIOUS GENERATIONAMD EPYC 7003 Processors

AMD EPYC 8004 Processors

AMD EPYC 7002P-series

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.

AMD EPYC 8004 Lineup

AMD EPYC 8004

Designed for single-socket servers for telco, networking, and edge workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: up to 128MB
I/O: 96 PCIe 5.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 6TB 6-channel DDR5
TDP: 70-225W
Architecture: Zen 4c, Siena

LATEST ACHITECTUREZen 4c

COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARDSSP6

PREVIOUS GENERATIONAMD EPYC 7003 Processors

AMD EPYC 7003 Processors

AMD EPYC 7002P-series

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.

AMD EPYC 7003 Lineup

AMD EPYC 7003X

Designed for dual-socket servers for technical computing workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: 768MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 4.0
Memory: 4TB 8-channel DDR4
TDP: 240-280W
Architecture: Zen 3, Milan

AMD EPYC 7003

Designed for dual-socket servers for everyday workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: 64-256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 4.0
Memory: 4TB 8-channel DDR4
TDP: 155-280W
Architecture: Zen 3, Milan

AMD EPYC 7003P

Designed for single-socket servers for everyday workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: 128-256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 4.0
Memory: 4TB 8-channel DDR4
TDP: 155-225W
Architecture: Zen 3, Milan

LATEST ACHITECTUREZen 3

COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARDSSP3

PREVIOUS GENERATIONAMD EPYC 7002 Processors

AMD EPYC 7002 Processors

AMD EPYC 7002P-series

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.

AMD EPYC 7002 Lineup

AMD EPYC 7002

Designed for dual-socket servers for technical computing workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: up to 256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 4.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 4TB 8-channel DDR4
TDP: 120-240W
Architecture: Zen 2, Rome

AMD EPYC 7002P

Designed for dual-socket servers for everyday workloads

Cores: up to 64
Level 3 Cache: up to 256MB
I/O: 128 PCIe 4.0, 12 PCIe 3.0
Memory: 4TB 8-channel DDR4
TDP: 120-200W
Architecture: Zen 2, Rome

LATEST ACHITECTUREZen 2

COMPATIBLE MOTHERBOARDSSP3

PREVIOUS GENERATIONAMD EPYC 7001 Processors

AMD EPYC Summary

Still not sure which AMD EPYC processor is right for you? This table shows the relative performance and features of the main ranges of EPYC processor.

EPYC 9704 EPYC 9004 EPYC 9004P EPYC 9004X EPYC 9004F EPYC 8004 EPYC 7003 EPYC 7003P EPYC 7003X EPYC 7002 EPYC 7002P
ARCHITECTURE Zen 4c Zen 4 Zen 4 Zen 4 Zen 4 Zen 4c Zen 3 Zen 3 Zen 3 Zen 2 Zen 2
SMP SUPPORT
MAX CORES / THREADS 128/256 96/192 96/192 96/192 48/96 64/128 64/128 64/128 64/128 64/128 64/128
MAX BASE CLOCK SPEED 3.1GHz 3.8GHz 2.9GHz 4.2GHz 3.1GHz 3.1GHz 3.7GHz 3.0GHz 2.9GHz 3.7GHz 3.1GHz
MEMORY TYPE ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR5 Reg ECC DDR4 Reg ECC DDR4 Reg ECC DDR4 Reg ECC DDR4 Reg ECC DDR4 Reg
MAX MEMORY CHANNELS 12 12 12 12 12 6 8 8 8 8 8
MAX MEMORY SPEED 4800MHz 4800MHz 4800MHz 4800MHz 4800MHz 4800MHz 3200MHz 3200MHz 3200MHz 3200MHz 3200MHz
MAX MEMORY SUPPORTED 12TB 12TB 12TB 12TB 12TB 6TB 8TB 8TB 8TB 4TB 4TB
PCIe VERSION 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0
PCIe LANES 128 128 128 128 128 96 128 128 128 128 128
SOCKET SP5 SP5 SP5 SP5 SP5 SP6 SP3 SP3 SP3 SP3 SP3

We hope this guide has proved helpful in providing some insight as to which AMD EPYC processor may best suit your server requirement, but if you’re still in need of guidance don’t hesitate to contact our team of system architects on 01204 474747 or [email protected]