AMD to broaden and specialize EPYC CPUs, already working on Zen 7 architecture — increased customization to better address evolving AI and cloud needs

AMD to broaden and specialize EPYC CPUs, already working on Zen 7 architecture — increased customization to better address evolving AI and cloud needs

" The Venice family spans a broad set of CPUs optimized for throughput, performance per watt, and performance per dollar, including Verona, our first EPYC CPU purpose-built for AI infrastructure," Su said.

Considering the fact that AMD now expects the server CPU total available market to grow at a 35% compound annual growth rate and reach $120 billion by 2030, development of specialized models may be well justified even though CPU development in general and CPU implementation on leading-edge nodes in particular has become especially expensive in recent years.

So, while AMD did not formally announce any new CPU categories, its chief executive clearly signaled an ongoing expansion and specialization of EPYC offerings around AI infrastructure and other segments of the market.

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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom\u2019s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-23/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Anton Shilov Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

GenericUser2001 From the consumer side of things hopefully some of the specialization for different server workloads has a fair bit of crossover for everyday tasks. For example, the 3d cache on the x3d chips was originally intended for certain server workloads, but turned out to be really good for gaming too. Reply

DS426 GenericUser2001 said: From the consumer side of things hopefully some of the specialization for different server workloads has a fair bit of crossover for everyday tasks. For example, the 3d cache on the x3d chips was originally intended for certain server workloads, but turned out to be really good for gaming too. Not disagreeing, but the GPU is the bottleneck in gaming, not the CPU. To your point, 3D cache put AMD's CPU's on top in gaming, and now they just need that 3D cache moment with GPU's. They don't even have to beat nVidia at the very top end, but a strong high-end performer for hundreds less is what many are craving. Reply

usertests There are tons of options on the table with multiple types of chiplets available. They are apparently going to use multiple I/O chiplets to control how many channels/lanes can be offered. There's supposed to be a 36-core Zen 7 chiplet with L3 cache disaggregated from it (related to but distinct from X3D). Maybe they can mix 8-core, 16-core, and 36-cores at will. Possibly add a graphics chiplet like the MI300A. It could get dizzying. If they don't want to offer dozens upon dozens of SKUs, they could allow the big hyperscaler/AI customers to customize their Epyc to the extent possible. Reply

bit_user DS426 said: Not disagreeing, but the GPU is the bottleneck in gaming, not the CPU. To the extent that the CPU is still a bottleneck in gaming, Chips & Cheese found that Zen 5 is predominantly front-end bound on the 3 games they analyzed. If Zen 6 improves front-end throughput (which I think is consistent with the rumors?), then it could actually make a pretty big dent in what CPU bottlenecks remain. Source: https://chipsandcheese.com/p/running-gaming-workloads-through DS426 said: To your point, 3D cache put AMD's CPU's on top in gaming, and now they just need that 3D cache moment with GPU's. The first big step towards that was RDNA 2's Infinity Cache. RDNA 3 was rumored to have bumps for stacking a cache die atop the MCDs, but it never happened for either market or technical reasons. RDNA 4 had a canceled flagship that was rumored to make even more aggressive use of die stacking. I think we might yet see them implement that vision, but no guesses as to whether it'll happen in RDNA 5. Reply

usertests bit_user said: RDNA 4 had a canceled flagship that was rumored to make even more aggressive use of die stacking. I think we might yet see them implement that vision, but no guesses as to whether it'll happen in RDNA 5. Based on MLID leaks, they could be ditching Infinity Cache (L3) entirely in favor of embiggened L2 cache, closer to what Nvidia uses. And no die stacking detected, but GPU chiplets that can be shared between mobile APUs, gaming dGPUs, the Xbox Helix, and workstation/accelerators. AT4 = 24 CUs, 10 MiB L2 cache (128-bit Medusa Halo Mini) AT2/AT3? = 44-64 CUs, 16-24 MiB L2 cache (256/384-bit Medusa Halo with 48 CUs, 20 MiB L2) AT0 = 138-184 CUs, 40-64 MiB L2 cache I'm using these two leaks. There are some discrepancies (more than I remembered!) which I attempted to resolve above. uLsykckkoZU:860 View: https://youtu.be/uLsykckkoZU?t=860 (July 2025) https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1mydfvj/leaks_of_rdna5_new_gpus_coming_in_2027_possible/ K0B08iCFgkk:1183 View: https://youtu.be/K0B08iCFgkk?t=1183 (August 2025) https://www.notebookcheck.net/Next-gen-AMD-RDNA-5-desktop-GPUs-leak-Mid-range-AT3-GPU-features-48-CUs-and-massive-384-bit-bus.1093904.0.html It remains to be seen how discrete desktop GPUs would handle these changes, but they should be great for Medusa Halo Mini, which is presumed to be the Strix Point successor. Strix Point has only 2 MiB L2 cache for graphics, while Panther Lake has a gigantic 16 MiB. AT4 was estimated as having RTX 3060-4060 raster performance, while using at least 12 GB of cheap LPDDR5X. It could be made into a good dGPU for the low-end. AT0 could allow an effective RTX 6090 competitor. But don't hold your breath. Reply

CPUvsGPU It remains to be seen how discrete desktop GPUs would handle these changes, but they should be great for Medusa Halo Mini, which is presumed to be the Strix Point successor. Strix Point has only 2 MiB L2 cache for graphics, while Panther Lake has a gigantic 16 MiB. For 8K resolution need frame bufer of size 7,680*4,320 *3 (colours, each 8 bit) = 99,532,800 bytes or about 99.5 Mbytes. To take inforamtion so fast from frame bufer and to output it to monitor need very fast VRAM with latencies about 99,532,800/3 (if 24 bits outputed at a time) = 33,177,600. If monitor output rate is 60 Hz, then 1/(33,177,600 * 60) = 5.02347 *10^(-10). It is 0.5 nanosecond. This equal to VRAM "latency frequency" 1/(5.02347 *10^(-10)) = 1,990,656,000 Hz or 1.99 GHz, almost 2 GHz. Thus looks like VRAM don't have issues with latency. Because noramal RAM latency (like DDR4), like CAS latency is about 13 ns or about 70-100 MHz. Or GPU's VRAM must have about 100 MB cache for 8K frame bufer, if no compresion of frames. For good frames quality compresion can't be more than 4-5 times like it is on .PNG image files. Even .jpg files compress .bmp image only 15-20 times, which is not acceptable and can be computationaly too expensive. Thus at least 5 MB of SRAM VRAM needed for jpg quality 8K gaming without upscaling, because shown frames of say desktop and windowses can be a bit blured. Reply

bit_user CPUvsGPU said: To take inforamtion so fast from frame bufer and to output it to monitor need very fast VRAM with latencies about … No, it's not a latency thing. The display controller can queue up DMA transfers to fetch blocks of framebuffer data, in advance. So, you only need to worry about bandwidth. That shouldn't be a problem, since 8k @ 60 Hz is only 5.97 GB/s (at 24-bit without DSC). CPUvsGPU said: For good frames quality compresion can't be more than 4-5 times like it is on .PNG image files. Well, typical compression ratios for DSC are only in the realm of 3:1, according to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Stream_Compression Reply

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