AMD Zen Opterons to use three different sockets

Posted on Thursday, July 21 2016 @ 12:57 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Word is going around that AMD will be using three different sockets for its upcoming Zen-based Opteron server processors. FUD Zilla claims these chips will arrive by mid-2017 and offers some insight on the different configurations.

Snowy Owl is reportedly for the entry-level and mid-range Zen server processor lines. The entry-level parts will ship in four and eight core configurations and will utilize the SP4r2 socket. This is a BGA socket, meaning these processors will be soldered to the motherboard.

Then there will also be a mid-range Snowy Owl batch consisting of eight, twelve and sixteen core parts. These processor use a SP4 BGA package, which is reportedly pin compatible with SP4R2.

The performance market will be served by Naples, this processor line will use the new SP3 LGA socket. This lineup has high core counts, with 16, 24 and 32-core options.
We have already mentioned the Zeppelin ZP cluster that has eight Zen cores each having 512 KB L2 cache and four Zen cores share 8 MB or L3 cache. Since the four Zen cores share the same cache, adding three clusters like this results in a 12 core version. Getting two Zeppelin clusters together would create a Naples 16-core, three Zeppelin clusters are Naples 24-core while four Zeppelin clusters would create 32-core Zeppelin with 64 thread support.
FUD Zilla heard whispers that Zen will be competitive with Intel's Skylake architecture but at the moment no one is willing to go into the details.

Zen Zeppelin


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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