When it comes to server processors, bigger isn’t always better.
To be sure, for some workloads, using the fastest, most powerful processors is a winning strategy. But for environments that are power- or cooling-constrained, the best tool for the job is often a processor that uses less power, produces less heat, and takes up less space.
In these cases, a low-power CPU such as AMD’s venerable EPYC 8004 series fits the bill perfectly.
These processors can address resource-intensive workloads in physical spaces that are less than ideal—telecom offices, outdoor smart-city infrastructure, and retail locations, to name just a few.
Why Low-Power?
The most compelling arguments for low-power CPUs often come down to three factors: power, cooling and cost.
Power constraints present an ongoing challenge for the IT engineers who deploy telco and edge systems. They’re routinely asked to meet workload-specific requirements while deploying systems in tough situations.
For instance, it’s common to install servers in small equipment cabinets and street-level telco boxes with strict power budgets and no active cooling.
To help meet those demands, IT managers prefer processors with a low thermal design power (TDP) rating. For example, AMD’s 8-core, 2.4GHz EPYC 8024P processor can operate at 90 watts TDP.
That means this CPU can address resource-intensive workloads while maintaining a much lower thermal signature than a full-power processor. By way of comparison, AMD’s high-end EPYC 9004 CPUs operate as high as 400W, though to be fair, they also perform more work in a set period of time.
Other specs differ, too. Take cores. The low-power AMD EPYC 8004 series processors offer anywhere from 8 to 64 cores, while the full-bore EPYC 9004 series offers 16 to 128. Clock rates vary too. For the low-power AMD EPYC 8004, the fastest base rate is 2.55 GHz, while on the EPYC 9004 series, the base rate climbs to 4.1 GHz.
Small is Beautiful
But heat and power aren’t the only things that decrease when you use a low-power CPU. There’s also the CPU’s smaller physical size. That can help lower an organization’s total cost of ownership (TCO).
That’s why AMD designed the EPYC 8004 series with its ‘Zen 4c’ architecture. Using this design process, AMD managed to shrink vital components, improving their performance while reducing the overall footprint.
One example: AMD reduced the ‘Zen 4c’ die area from 3.84mm in standard ‘Zen 4’ builds down to 2.48mm in the EPYC 8004. That’s a reduction of more than 35%.
AMD EPYC 8004 processors also use a smaller socket form factor. Their SP6 socket is nearly 20% smaller than those used by AMD’s high-performance EPYC 9004 processors.
These percentages may sound small, but when it comes to low-power and low-cooling situations, they represent huge and vital gains. These smaller, more efficient components enable more densely packed deployments. That density, in turn, creates a smaller footprint that lowers the cost of both cooling and power.
AI at the Edge, Too
To better understand the value of low-power CPUs, it helps to consider a tough workload like AI inferencing at the edge. It’s a highly demanding task operating in a wide variety of environments.
Those environments may force IT managers to contend with insufficient cooling systems, installations that must be sealed to keep out the elements, and locations that offer only a limited power supply.
Yet these IT managers must also ensure that the hardware they deploy can keep up with the rigors of AI workloads. That can be a tough needle to thread.
Addressing those difficult situations requires well-built, reliable hardware like Supermicro’s H13 WIO systems.
Both the 1U and 2U variants of the H13 WIO are powered by AMD EPYC 8004 series processors. And both have room for up to 576GB of DDR5 memory.
While the 1U version is designed for tight spaces, the 2U H13 WIO is focused on expansion. It has room for up to 12 hot-swappable drives and 4 PCIe 5.0 cards. Two of its PCIe slots are full-height, full-length (FHFL), and the other two accept low-profile (LP) expansion cards.
The H13 WIO’s PCIe 5.0 configuration and power budget enable users to install a GPU accelerator to address demanding workloads like AI inferencing.
Coming Soon…
AMD’s EPYC 8004 series processor has become a vital component for edge and telco deployments. But technology is always moving forward. So it’s no surprise that the engineers at AMD have been working on a successor.
In February, AMD said its EPYC 8005 series processors, codenamed Sorano, would arrive in this year’s second quarter. In other words, by the end of June.
The company has yet to divulge tech specs for its new low-power processor series. But AMD has said that the EPYC 8005 CPUs were designed with three priorities in mind:
Wide thermal operating ranges, to support broad environmental requirements;
Compliance with the Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS), for rugged and outdoor telco deployments;
High core counts per socket, enabling small form factors.
With this new tech right around the corner, you’ll want to watch this space closely. The telco and edge IT infrastructure landscape is about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Do More:
Meet the AMD EPYC 8004 server CPUs
Get the datasheet: Supermicro WIO systems powered by AMD EPYC 8004 CPUs