Today AMD will unveil EPYC Milan, a new generation of server processors based on Zen 3 architecture

Tonight AMD will unveil the new, already third generation of EPYC server processors, also known under the codename Milan. The presentation will take place online, which is not surprising given the pandemic. The broadcast will start at 18:00, Moscow time, on the official AMD YouTube channel.

AMD executive director Lisa Su, technical director Mark Papermaster, general manager of embedded systems department Forrest Norrod and other company representatives are expected to speak at the upcoming event. As for the subject matter of the presentation, it is currently known about the EPYC Milan processors that they will carry the Zen 3 architecture, which debuted in the Ryzen 5000 desktop processors last year. In addition to architectural improvements themselves cores new chips will offer a unified third-level cache for each chip (a total of 32 MB for the eight cores).

AMD server innovations will offer up to 64 cores and 128 threads. They will be made in familiar SP3 package, which will allow to use them in already existing systems. TDP level of new chips according to rumors will not exceed 280 W.

AMD introduced EPYC Milan server processors - new cores at old prices, almost

AMD introduced the third generation of EPYC server processors, also known by the codename Milan. The new products are based on Zen 3 architecture and are able to execute up to 19% more instructions per clock (IPC) as compared to their predecessors. AMD has presented a total of 19 models of EPYC 7003-series processors. There are chips with the number of cores from 8 to 64, all with multi-threading support & ; each core processes two instruction threads simultaneously. Note that this is the first generation where AMD offered chips with 28 and 56 cores, so users have even more freedom of choice.

The base frequency of the new EPYC processors ranges from 2 to 3.7 GHz. In turn, maximum Boost speeds can reach up to 4.1GHz, although in most cases they do not exceed 4GHz. The standard TDP level ranges from 120 to 280W. Layer 3 cache capacity also varies and may be 64, 128 or 256 MB, depending on the model. Moreover, the amount of cache does not depend on the number of cores. It should be also added that L3 cache is now shared per chip & ; up to eight cores may access all 32 Mbytes, located with them on one chip.

The common features of all EPYC Milan models apart from Zen 3 architecture are eight DDR4 memory channels supporting up to 3200 MHz, and 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes. In fact, this new product does not differ from its predecessors. They are also similar in CPU socket & ; AMD continues to use familiar from the first EPYC socket SP3. Our sister site ServerNews has already prepared detailed review of new AMD EPYC Milan processor family and made tests using EPYC 7763 and EPYC 7543 examples. The material can be found here.

Recommended prices for EPYC Milan processors start from $913 and that is not the 8-core, but the chip with 16 cores. The flagship EPYC 7763 with 64 cores will cost $7890. For comparison, last generation EPYC prices ranged from $450 to $6,950. That is, the chips have not grown too much, but still noticeably.

AMD does not believe Intel will increase competition in the server segment this year

The statements of Intel's management regarding increased competition in the coming year are still fresh in the minds of industry analysts. AMD CEO Lisa Su believes the competitive environment in the server segment will be business as usual and the average selling price of processors will remain the same as last year.

Image source: AMD

At the quarterly reporting event, AMD representatives once again reminded that major customers have been receiving 7nm EPYC generation Milan processors with Zen 3 architecture since last quarter, and their formal announcement to the general public will take place before the end of the current quarter. At the moment, Lisa Su (Lisa Su) considers the competitive environment to be quite competitive, but does not see the preconditions for increased competition this year. According to her, in the server segment everything will be lquo;as usual». Analysts invited to the conference mentioned the decline in average selling price of Intel server processors, indicating the company is ready to compete with AMD on price. Lisa Su countered that AMD has never set out to compete at the expense of low selling prices for processors, in the server segment it is both total cost of ownership and the balance of price, functionality and performance that matter to customers. According to AMD's CEO Milan server processors are the company's most balanced product in the segment. They are equally as good for the enterprise sector as they are for cloud applications. This year, the bulk of AMD's server processors will continue to be purchased by cloud market players, so the average selling price of EPYCs will not change much. At the quarterly event, it was noted that AMD's revenues in the server segment reached about 19% of total revenues, a sign of the growing impact of server products on the company's business. Server GPUs have little impact on revenues so far, but AMD does not set overly ambitious targets in this sense yet. The expansion of the CDNA architecture and beyond has to be carried out in stages.