We have known for some time that AMD will be launching its next generation EPYC processor family, codenamed Milan, in the first quarter of this year. AMD today released a press release confirming the date and time of its online event – the launch of the new 7003 series processors will take place on March 8 PT / 11:00 ET on March 15, 2021.
The launch event features presentations from Dr. Lisa Su, CEO, Mark Papermaster, CT Enterprise, Forrest Norrod, GM Enterprise and Embedded Solutions (EESC), and Dan McNamara, GM Server Business Unit. Leading data center partners and customers will also make an appearance.
To date, we know that AMD’s processor line from AMD will include up to 64 Zen 3 cores, with an apparent transition from the Zen 2 EPYC Rome ecosystem to compatible pin processors. Milan also offers up to 128 PCIe lanes, eight-channel memory and dual socket configurations. If a PC-based Zen 3 processor is a benchmark, + 19% IPC generation gains are expected with the new processor, although memory access is likely to remain the same. We have questions about the exact performance, frequencies and efficiency, but this launch date should showcase all the product specifications so we can see where the solution is compared to the current market offerings.
AMD has provided some previous standard numbers – at CES, the company showed the weather forecast simulation code, with two new 32-core Milan processors, versus two of Intel’s popular 28-core Xeon Gold 6258R units. In the demo of the first party, a six-hour simulation showed that Milan was 46% faster in dual calculator. Later, a single sock comparison was shown, where the difference increased to 68%. These were first-party tests without any comparison system details, but we expect more information on March 15de introduction.
Questions will be asked about AMD’s ability to supply EPYC, as it currently has a number of products in its supply chain. We are aware that AMD has already supplied important silicone to customers, and dr. Lisa Su said that one of AMD’s main targets for 2021 will be the enterprise market.
We’ll be blogging AMD’s launch live – it can also be found online on the AMD Convention website.