Mar 05, 2020 08:00:00

ARM-based 80-core server processor appeared from `` Ampere '' by former Intel president, performance comparable to AMD's second generation `` EPYC ''

Ampere , the former CEO of Intel President Renay James , has released the Ampere Altra, an 80-core processor for cloud servers that uses the ARM architecture. X86 server processors, such as AMD's EPYC Rome and Intel's second-generation Xeon scalable processors, are benchmark products.

Ampere Altra ™ – Industry's First 80-Core Server Processor Unveiled – Ampere Computing
https://amperecomputing.com/ampere-altra-industrys-first-80-core-server-processor-unveiled/

Ampere Altra Launched with 80 Arm Cores for the Cloud | ServeTheHome
https://www.servethehome.com/ampere-altra-80-arm-cores-for-cloud/

Next Generation Arm Server: Ampere's Altra 80-core N1 SoC for Hyperscalers against Rome and Xeon
https://www.anandtech.com/show/15575/amperes-altra-80-core-n1-soc-for-hyperscalers-against-rome-and-xeon

Ampere Altra is the first 80-core ARM-based server processor | VentureBeat
https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/03/ampere-altra-is-the-first-80-core-arm-based-server-processor/

'Ampere' is a semiconductor company founded in 2018 by former Intel president Renee James and others. Enters the ARM-based server processor market.

Former President Intel launches new company Ampere-Arm-based server chips and more-ZDNet
https://japan.zdnet.com/article/35114279/

'Ampere Altra' adopts

TSMC 's 7nm process and has 80 ARMv8.2 + cores. Each core has 64KB of L1 cache, 1MB of L2 cache, and an additional 32MB of system level cache. TDP is 210W, which can be considered as power saving compared to 225W of AMD's 'EPYC 7742'.

Ampere Altra is characterized by one thread per core without intentionally installing the multi-thread function by the

SMT included in Intel and AMD server processors. This will enable consistent performance design and reduce the impact of errors such as cache misses. In a cloud service that operates multiple virtual containers on a single server, this reduces noise between virtual containers.

As for memory, DDR4-3200 memory is supported up to 4TB. The clock frequency is higher than DDR4-2933, which is supported by Intel's second-generation Xeon scalable processor, and it supports 33% more

DIMM slots.

As for PCIe bandwidth, PCIe Gen4 can use up to 128 lanes with one processor and 192 lanes with two processors. AMD's 'EPYC Rome' can also technically use 192 lanes, but officially only supports up to 160 lanes .

According to Ampere, in the benchmark package '

SPEC CPU 2017 ', Ampere Altra is equivalent to EPYC 7742 and boasts more than twice the performance of Intel 'Xeon Platinum 8280'.

Dividing the benchmark value by

TCO and looking at the balance between performance and cost, Ampere Altra 41% compared to EPYC 7702, 63% compared to Intel's 'Xeon Gold 6238R', Xeon Platinum 8280 Compared to 296% cost, benchmark performance is good.

Ampere will continue to develop ARM processors for the server, and at the time of the Ampere Altra release, a processor called 'Mystique' in 2021 and a processor called 'Siryn' in 2022.

AMD is planning to release a processor using a new generation architecture called codename `` Milan '' in the latter half of 2020, while Intel has also announced Ice Lake and Cooper Lake generation Xeon, Ampere Altra said that AMD and It is said that it can compete with Intel's next-generation processor.