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AMD unveils new EPYC processor for high performance computing
Tue, 16th Mar 2021
FYI, this story is more than a year old

AMD has today launched a new EPYC processor designed for the data center industry, cloud, and enterprise customers.

The AMD EPYC 7003 Series central processing units (CPUs) include up to 64 Zen 3 cores per processor, and also include the EPYC 7763 server processor for a performance and per-core cache memory boost. The 7003 series also includes PCIe 4 connectivity and eight memory channels per processor.

Security features include AMD Infinity Guard and a new feature called Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Secure Nested Paging (SEV-SNP). This adds memory integrity protection capabilities to create an isolated execution environment. This can help to prevent hypervisor-based attacks.

According to AMD, cloud providers can leverage the 7003 Series' high core density, security features, and improved integer performance.

Further, high performance computing (HPC) customers can leverage the 7003 series' faster time to recovery due to more I/O and memory throughput, and the Zen 3 cores.

Enterprise customers can leverage the new processors which can improve tractional database processing, Hadoop big data analytic sorts, and performance for flexible hyperconverged infrastructure.

“We not only double the performance over the competition in HPC, cloud and enterprise workloads with our newest server CPUs, but together with the AMD Instinct GPUs, we are breaking the exascale barrier in supercomputing and helping to tackle problems that have previously been beyond humanity's reach,” comments AMD data center and embedded solutions business group's senior vice president and general manager, Forrest Norrod.

Many AMD partners, including AWS, HPE, Oracle, and VMware, have been quick to use and deliver the EPYC 7003 series processors.

AWS will add the AMD EPYC 7003 series processors to its core Amazon EC2 instance families later this year.

Cisco introduced Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) rack server models with AMD EPYC 7003 Series Processors designed to support modern hybrid cloud workloads.   

Dell Technologies announced the PowerEdge XE8545 server with AMD EPYC 7003 series CPUs, and the company will support the new processors within its PowerEdge server portfolio.

Google Cloud announced AMD EPYC 7003 series processors will power a new compute-optimized VM, C2D, and an expansion of the existing general-purpose N2D VM later this year. Google Cloud Confidential Computing will be available on both C2D and N2D.

HPE announced it will double the lineup of AMD EPYC processor-powered solutions, using the AMD EPYC 7003 series processors in new HPE ProLiant servers, HPE Apollo systems and HPE Cray EX supercomputers.

Lenovo added ten Lenovo ThinkSystem Servers and ThinkAgile HCI solutions built on 3rd Gen EPYC processors and achieved more than 25 new world records across a broad set of industry-standard benchmarks in workload areas.

Microsoft Azure announced multiple new virtual machine offerings powered by AMD EPYC 7003 series processors. Azure HBv3 virtual machines for HPC applications are generally available today, and Confidential Computing virtual machines that utilize the full security features of the new AMD EPYC 7003 series processors are in private preview.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure announced it is extending its flexible virtual machine and bare metal compute offerings with the new E4 platform based on 3rd Generation AMD EPYC Processors.

Supermicro introduced the AMD EPYC 7003 series processor in its Supermicro A+ single and dual-socket family of Ultra, Twin, SuperBlade, Storage and GPU Optimized Systems.

Tencent Cloud announced the new Tencent Cloud SA3 server instance, powered by the 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors.

VMware announced its latest release of VMware vSphere 7 which is optimized to take advantage of AMD EPYC processors virtualization performance, while supporting the processors' advanced security features, including SEV-ES for both virtual machine-based and containerized applications.