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AMD EPYC monolithic crystals would cost twice as much as chipsets

The advantages of the arrangement of processors from several dissimilar crystals AMD is ready to discuss at any opportunity, and ISSCC 2020 was no exception. The company said that EPYC server processors with a large number of cores would cost her twice as much if there was a monolithic crystal.

Image Source: AnandTech



Comparison of existing processors with hypothetical monolithic ones is AMD’s favorite trick, designed to eloquently prove the benefits of switching to the so-called chipsets. Recall that the computing cores of processors with Zen 2 architecture are located on 7-nm crystals with an area of ​​74 mm2on which 3.8 billion transistors are located. A crystal with I / O logic, manufactured using 14-nm technology, went to EPYC server processors and desktop Ryzen Threadripper. It is with an area of ​​416 mm2 contains 8.34 billion transistors. For the client segment, a 12-nm chip with I / O logic was developed, it also turned into the AMD X570 chipset for consumer-class motherboards. Such a crystal already occupied no more than 125 mm2 in the presence of 2.09 billion transistors.

Image Source: PC Watch

Image Source: PC Watch



Composing these crystals in various combinations, AMD was able to create a wide range of processors and at the same time significantly save in comparison with a hypothetical monolithic crystal. In the case of EPYC server processors with more than 32 cores, the gain in cost was twofold. Moreover, as AMD admits, it would not have succeeded in creating a monolithic crystal with 64 cores, and all other processors with such a configuration would have lower speed than those created from chiplets.

Image Source: PC Watch

Image Source: PC Watch



In the desktop segment, such savings were also observed, but in the case of eight-core processors it was not as pronounced as in the case of sixteen-core. Using a special chip for the AMD X570 chipset allowed us to give motherboards wide capabilities for connecting various devices without sacrificing bandwidth.

Image Source: PC Watch

Image Source: PC Watch



It should be borne in mind, however, that when creating the 7-nm hybrid Renoir processors in the mobile version, AMD preferred a monolithic crystal, since in this case the criterion of energy consumption defeated. Accordingly, the priority of multi-chip layout is not mandatory, it all depends on the specific situation.

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