AMD has introduced the third generation of its EPYC server processors, based on the company's Zen 3 microarchitecture. Called AMD EPYC Milan, the new line of processors is up to twice the speed of the closest competition for enterprise, cloud, and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. The best-performing SKU in the lineup (the 7763-core EPYC 64) also wins the crown as "the world's most efficient server processor," the firm says, delivering up to 19% more instructions per clock thanks to new architecture. In a briefing, TechRadar Pro learned that the higher performance density offered with EPYC Milan means that customers can achieve the same level of performance with 49% fewer servers and 25% fewer racks, compared to Intel's best. It also means less space and energy is required to house, operate and cool the servers, which AMD says translates to a 35% total cost of ownership (TCO) savings. The main caveat is that the numbers are based on comparisons with Intel's Xeon Gold 6258R, not the soon-to-be-released Intel Ice Lake Xeon processors, which will be much more competitive.
AMD EPYC Milan
AMD launched 19 new EPYC processors in total, ranging from 8 to 64 cores per processor and costing between €913 and €7,890 per thousand units. The company hopes this level of scale means EPYC Milan offers something for everyone, without forcing customers to buy more powerful (and more expensive) processors than they need. AMD also wants to highlight the security credentials of the new EPYC family. Third-generation processors offer both the shadow stack and Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) with Secure Nested Paging (SNP), which leverage existing protections to better protect against untrusted hypervisors and control flow attacks. “SEV-SNP extends existing SEV functionality in EPYC processors, adding robust memory integrity protection capabilities to help prevent malicious hypervisor-based attacks by creating an isolated execution environment,” AMD said. According to the company, the combination of enhanced security, superior performance and a broader range of options will enable EPYC Milan to offer "spectacular value" to customers of all kinds. Dell Technologies has announced that it will implement EPYC Milan on its PowerEdge XE8545 server and the same will be true for HPE, which will use the new processors in its ProLiant servers, Apollo systems and Cray EX supercomputers. The biggest players in the cloud computing market will also use the new lineup, with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud introducing EPYC Milan virtual machines and AWS expected to add 2rd generation EPYC processors to its ECXNUMX instance families later in year. All AMD EPYC Milan processors are available for purchase immediately.