Review: AMD Epyc 7763 2P (Milan)

by Tarinder Sandhu on 15 March 2021, 15:01

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaeqby

Add to My Vault: x

Test Methodology

Server Processor Configurations

CPU
AMD Epyc 7763
AMD Epyc 7742
AMD Epyc 7402
AMD Epyc 7F52
Intel Xeon Platinum 8280
Codename
Milan
Rome
Rome
Rome
Cascade Lake Refresh
CPU Base Clock
2.45GHz
2.25GHz
2.8GHz
3.7GHz
2.70GHz
CPU Turbo Clock
3.50GHz
3.4GHz
3.35GHz
4.6GHz
4.0GHz
CPU L3 Cache
256MB
256MB
128MB
256MB
38.5MB
CPU Cores / Threads
64 / 128
64 / 128
24 / 48
16 / 32
28 / 56
CPU TDP
280W
225W
180W
240W
205W
Test Configuration
2P
2P
2P
2P
2P
Socket
SP3
LGA3647
Lithography
7nm
14nm
Motherboard
AMD Daytona Reference
Intel Reference
Memory
Micron 512GB RDIMM
Micron 384GB RDIMM
Memory Config
16x32GB - 2DPC
12x32GB 2DPC
Memory Speed
3,200MHz
2,933MHz
Disk Drive
Micron 256GB 1100 SATA SSD
6x Micron 9300 3.84GB NVMe
Power Supply
2x 1,200W Redundant Configuration
1,200W
Graphics Card
-
Operating System
Ubuntu 19.04

Benchmark Suite

STREAM Memory 1.3.1 Used to evaluate bandwidth using optimised compilers for both platforms.
NAMD 1.0.1 NAMD is a parallel molecular dynamics code designed for high-performance simulation of large biomolecular systems.
OpenSSL 1.11.0 The test measures the RSA 4096-bit performance of OpenSSL. 
Linux Kernel Compilation 1.9.1 This test times how long it takes to build the Linux kernel in a default configuration.
Redis 1.10 Redis is an open-source in-memory data structure store, used as a database, cache, and message broker.
POV-RAY 1.21 POV-Ray is used to create 3D graphics using ray-tracing.
m-queens 1.10 A solver for the N-queens problem with multi-threading support via the OpenMP library.
JTR Blowfish 1.70 A password-cracking test using brute CPU strength.
C-Ray 1.2.0 A simple raytracer designed to test the floating-point CPU multithreaded performance.

Notes

All server combinations use two processors. We're comparing the range-topping Epyc 7763 to Epyc 7742 from a couple of years back. Both harness 64 cores and 128 threads each, although the newer chips will be faster due to the Zen 3 architecture, myriad other performance tweaks, and 280W per-socket TDP. We've further included testing from last-generation Epyc 7402 (24C48T) and Epyc 7F52 (16C32T).

Moving over to team Intel, the company provided us with a dual socket server housing a pair of Xeon Platinum 8280 chips whose 28C56T architecture is based on the Cascade Lake Refresh. Soon to be replaced by Ice Lake-based processors, 8280s still sell for around $10,000 each, which is more than the cost of each undoubtedly faster Epyc 7763 chip.

It's not as clear cut as that, however, because our preferred comparison would have been the Xeon Gold 6258R whose specifications are identical to 8280 save for having 2P support instead of 8P and consequently two UPI links instead of three. That's no issue at all as AMD Epyc chips are limited to 2P functionality in any case.

The massive TCO benefit of Xeon Gold 6258R is price. Costing $3,950 they are better prepared to battle AMD's mid-core offerings, and we're particularly keen to see how they shape up against the also-28C56T Epyc 7453 in upcoming editorial. Nevertheless, for our purposes, it is reasonable to substitute Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 performance for Gold 6258R.

For those interested, we noted a peak 853W power consumption during testing, compared to 682W for a dual Xeon Platinum 8280.

We use a subset of the excellent Phoronix Test Suite to measure server performance.