Epyc in AM4
- Thread starter FredeBR
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I was hoping the Epyc 3000 SoC would emerge as a competitor to Atom and Xeon E3 boards but take-up of these chips seems to be low 
I dare say there's no reason that a cut-down version of Epyc might be plausible on AM4 but Epyc as it stands has a whopping eight memory channels going through the SP3 socket (>4000 pins) and there's not enough pins on AM4 (~1300) for that to be possible. That said I would imagine workstation parts to target TR4.
Hopefully AMD is getting its foot in the door with their "proper" server chips before branching out to people like us in the workstation/homelab market and more conservative server chips will appear once vendors get more comfortable with using AMD again...
I dare say there's no reason that a cut-down version of Epyc might be plausible on AM4 but Epyc as it stands has a whopping eight memory channels going through the SP3 socket (>4000 pins) and there's not enough pins on AM4 (~1300) for that to be possible. That said I would imagine workstation parts to target TR4.
Hopefully AMD is getting its foot in the door with their "proper" server chips before branching out to people like us in the workstation/homelab market and more conservative server chips will appear once vendors get more comfortable with using AMD again...
My thought process was that the TR series was exactly this Workstation based cut down EPYC market sector, gobs of RAM, just needs to simplify the NUMA layout or use a singular high GHz 8C die
Having multiple dual e5v2s as daily drivers, NUMA (and Windows) sucks for desktop-y things like web browsers. It will be interesting to see the final NUMA layout for Zen2, but I'd have to think a single, frequency optimized Zen2 would make a nice workstation CPU or even in TR4 form to take on the Xeon W's.
Actually, the only thing that AMD is missing is a vendor that specializes in Server-style Motherboards, like Supermicro does for Intel. AMD even had SKUs with official ECC support in the form of Ryzen PRO, or alternatively the Embedded Ryzen line. They do have the products, but they lack the ecosystem to put a full platform that can get to the hands of end users. Which is sad. I mean, how many times I have to rant about how many years I had to wait for AMD to be competitive again in the CPU race and now I can't find a Motherboard that makes me happy?!?!
About the main question, Rome looks like a really specialized design intended to take advantage of the space that you have in a Socket SP3 package. Thus, what sort of Rome derivative product you think that could fit in AM4? With some luck, maybe one or two 8C chiplets with a much smaller version of the I/O die. A Processor with two asymetric dies on the same package would look like first generation Intel Core i3/i5 Arrandale, which was conceptually similar to what you are proposing. But, what is the whole point of making such a complex package when you can already get all that on the same die?
If anything, Rome could get a direct ThreadRipper derivative that would be much simpler that the TR Workstation SKUs, as Socket TR4 is extremely close to SP3. Whereas original Zen had a one-size-fits-all Zeppelin die, AMD is now getting a specialized Server design.
I have the same thought.(Google translated)
A configuration with the SP3 / TR4 architecture has high TDP for a low clock (see the comparisons on the internet between ryzen 1700 vs epyc 7251, the 7251 almost spends twice as much energy to do the same work as the ryzen 1700. Most workstations you do not need a lot of lanes, most of which I know have less than 64GB Ram, having 16 to 32GB Workstation usually does not stay in the datacenter environment so the high TDP can be a negative point in temperature and power consumption. is space, anyone who has ever picked up a TR4 microATX card should understand what I'm talking about.
To conclude I ask another question: what would be the sales of an Epyc AM4 8 core, base 3.5 Ghz and 4Ghz turbo 65W TDP with the built-in RAS and ECC features of single and double bits?
(Google translated)
I think that's like comparing a truck with a small car, they are for different workloads/environments.
My guess is that the workstation market is far more smaller than the datacenter/hyperscaler market and that developing workstation oriented cpus is too costly.
You're right. I'll correct my statement.
Take a look here (https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-3251-benchmarks-and-review/6/) that shows a comparison between the epic 3251 and the 7251 where it has similar values in the tests but with the difference of consumption in half.
In the article (https://www.servethehome.com/amd-epyc-7371-review-now-the-fastest-16-core-cpu/)on the review of the Epyc 7371 AMD increased the frequencies for 3.1 base up to 3.8GHz turbo to 8 core.
Concluding: Is it possible for AMD to package an Epyc 3251 (for example) on an AM4 socket modifier with the base frequency of 3.1 and 3.8 GHz turbo? It would compete with the Xeon-W cpu workstation market.
(translated by Google)