AMD: EPYC MCM approach saves 41% vs monolithic design

AMD gave a talk at the Hot Chips symposium and one of the things they discussed is the cost savings they achieved on the EPYC server processor by going for a multi-chip module (MCM) design.

While they got blasted by Intel for creating a "glued-together" server chip design, AMD reveals that using four eight-core Summit Ridge dies to create EPYC results in big cost savings. The company says the MCM approach with Infinity Fabric links has a die cost that's 41 percent cheaper than that of a theoretical monolithic design.

The relatively smaller 8-core common die has an inherently higher yield than a larger chip due to the rule of inverse-exponential reduction in yield with increasing die-size. This, coupled with the R&D costs that would have gone into developing the hypothetical monolithic 32-core "Zen" based silicon, works out to a significant cost saving for the company.

The company also reiterated that the top 5 percent Summit Ridge dies end up in the Ryzen Threadripper lineup, and a higher percentile go to the EPYC lineup.



Via: TPU