AMD Second Gen EPYC Beastly Server CPUs Could Rock 64 Cores, 128 Threads And 256MB Cache

AMD EPYC Server Chip Logo
AMD's Zen architecture has proven to be a boon for the company in its fight against Intel. AMD first gave us a taste of how powerful Zen is with the Ryzen 7 processors, which were followed up by Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3. Later, we were taken by surprise with Ryzen Threadripper, which offers up to 16 cores of workstation-class computing greatness. Finally, AMD pulled the wraps off EPYC, which is a server-class processor family offering up to 32-cores and 64 threads of compute power.

It's that last product family that is the focus of our attention today. Canard PC Hardware, a French website with a pretty good track record when it comes to leaks, claims to have obtained specifications for AMD's second generation EPYC processors (we’ll simply call it EPYC 2 for brevity). At first glance, things don't appear to be too out of the ordinary. The processors are rumored to still support up to 128 PCIe lanes and 8-channel DDR4 memory (although the memory spec has been bumped from 2666MHz to 3200MHz speeds).

Where things really get interesting is with the revelation that the maximum core count has increased from 32 cores to 64 cores. That means that the top-spec EPYC 2 part will be capable of executing a staggering 128 threads.

The final piece to the puzzle comes with respect to L3 cache, and this marks another significant upgrade. Current EPYC processors feature 2MB of L3 cache per core, with the current 32-core EPYC 7551P featuring 64MB of total L3 cache. The leak from Canard PC Hardware suggests that this figure will quadruple, with 64-core processors serving as home to 256MB of L3 cache.

If AMD can manage to move its 12nm LP process technology and eventually 7nm, it's not out of the realm of possibility that 64 cores and 256MB of L3 cache could be crammed into future EPYC processors. In a follow-up tweet, the publication says that base TDP for the new processor will be 225W and will max out at 240W.

Back in March, the website managed to leak some news about an upcoming HEDT processor family from AMD. At the time, we didn't know that it had revealed specifications for what was to be known as Ryzen Threadripper. Will the publication's sources ring true again when it comes to these EPYC 2 specs? We definitely hope so.

Brandon Hill

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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