AMD EPYC 8005 Sorano CPUs Skip Zen 5c for up to 84 Full Zen 5 Cores
Following an unveiling earlier this year at Mobile World Congress 2026, AMD has now formally released its EPYC 8005 server chip line, codenamed Sorano, with up to 84 cores and 186 threads. Notably, AMD is skipping Zen 5c for its newest server stack and instead going with full Zen 5 cores, whereas the previous generation EPYC 8004 series codenamed Siena leveraged Zen 4c.
AMD's messaging is that EPYC 8005 delivers a "triple threat" to the server sector, combining big performance with low power and a small footprint. It's also claiming major advantages over rival Intel and its Xeon chips with comparable TDPs, with its flagship EPYC 8635P offering twice the cores with a 10-watt lower TDP versus the 40-core Xeon 6716P-B, and 91% higher integer performance. And compared to the 72-core Xeon 6776P-B, AMD is claiming 48% better integer performance per watt per dollar.
"This significant leap in performance in a low-power, small-footprint socket design enables highly capable single-socket systems at the edge. Operators can consolidate workloads onto fewer, more efficient nodes that boost performance per watt, minimize infrastructure footprints, and help lower deployment and operating costs," AMD says.
AMD's EPYC 8005 stack spans seven models ranging from the 8-core/16-thread EPYC 8025P with 64MB of L3 cache and a default 95W TDP (configurable down to 70W), on up to the EPYC 8635 with 84 cores, 168 threads, up to a 4.5GHz boost clock, 384MB of L3 cache, and a 225W TDP (configurable down to 155W).
All of the chips support 6 channels of DDR5-6400 memory with ECC (up to 3TB), 96 PCIe Gen 5 lanes and eight PCIe 3 lanes, and the full x86 instruction set with AVX-512 compatibility. From AMD's vantage point, this combination offers a balanced mix of compute, memory, bandwidth, and connectivity for dense edge deployments.
AMD's not just targeting customers who might be drawn to intel, but also ones who may be considering Arm-based solutions, such as NVIDIA's Grace CPU Superchip.
"Modernizing edge infrastructure can introduce architectural risk, especially if power concerns are pushing you toward non-x86 alternatives. AMD EPYC 8005 server CPUs are built on the same enterprise‑grade x86 foundation as our flagship AMD EPYC 9005 server CPUs.
AMD says this is the first time it's delivered this much x86 computing power in a chip package this compact and energy efficient, and expects its new lineup to disrupt the market. Official pricing ranges from $529 to $5,799.
