AMD Demonstrates Importance of High-End EPYC CPUs for Maximizing AI Accelerators’ Performance

During the recent Advancing AI keynote, AMD emphasized the critical role server CPUs play in the data center landscape, asserting that the appropriate CPU-GPU combination can significantly affect performance outcomes.

AMD’s EPYC Server CPUs: Delivering a 17% Performance Boost in Inference Workloads

While the focus on server CPU capabilities in the AI sphere has often been overlooked, these processors are fundamental for both training and inference tasks in artificial intelligence applications. Over recent quarters, AMD has markedly strengthened its position in the data center sector, particularly with its EPYC server CPUs. This growth has enabled AMD to emerge as a key player in this competitive arena. At the Advancing AI keynote, Forrest Norrod, AMD’s Executive Vice President, detailed the necessity of a well-balanced CPU and GPU pairing in server configurations.

In a comparative analysis, AMD evaluated its latest EPYC 9575F server CPU against Intel’s Xeon 8592+ (5th Gen), both integrated with the Instinct MI300X AI accelerator. The comparison highlighted the significant performance discrepancies arising when clients do not utilize the right CPU architecture. It is essential to acknowledge that AMD selected its most recent EPYC 9005 series for this benchmark against Intel’s Xeon, which launched almost two years prior. Both CPUs feature a similar architecture, sporting a 64-core/128-thread configuration, making this match-up relatively equitable based on specifications.

The benchmarks released by AMD indicate that adopting the EPYC 9005 series correlates with an average performance increase of 6% across various tests utilizing the Llama 3.1 8B AI model. This increase can soar to 17% as parameter counts grow. These evaluations, primarily focusing on diverse inference workloads, underscore the profound effect that the right server CPU can have on overall performance. However, one might wonder about the implications of system optimizations on these results.

Despite the nuances surrounding the benchmarks, AMD continues to witness substantial growth and adoption within the server CPU market, with its market share experiencing impressive expansions over a brief period.