AMD EPYC 9754 Benchmarks For The 128-Core Bergamo

In addition to the review embargo lift today for Genoa-X with our AMD EPYC 9684X benchmarks, the lift is also today on the new AMD EPYC "Bergamo" processors for offering up to 128 cores / 256 threads per socket using the new Zen 4C core. In this article is an initial look at the performance provided by the AMD EPYC 9754 128-core processors.

The AMD EPYC 9754 provides 128 cores / 256 threads, up from the 96 cores found with the EPYC 9654 "Genoa" and EPYC 9684X "Genoa-X" flagship processors, all while using the same SP5 socket as Genoa(X) and with same motherboard compatibility with a BIOS update. Bergamo is the higher density sibling to Genoa while having the same Zen 4 ISA -- including AVX-512. One of the aims with maximizing the core density is for making Bergamo appealing to cloud service providers for being able to offer the highest number of vCPUs. With Bergamo now delivering 128 cores it matches that of Ampere's Altra Max that also offer SKUs up to 128 cores but unlike Bergamo they lack SMT and has been in the marketplace now for nearly three years. Earlier this summer Ampere Computing announced AmpereOne with up to 192 cores per socket (no SMT) but so far we haven't seen anything substantive on availability nor have we had the chance to conduct any hardware testing of AmpereOne. Joining the high density server CPU party next year is Intel's Sierra Forest that is their E-core-based Xeon server processors with Intel having already announced up to 144 cores. But being an Intel E-core design will presumably lack AVX-512 and SMT/HT.

With Bergamo, AMD has managed to provide up to 16 (Zen 4C) cores per CCD compared to 8 with traditional Zen 4. Beyond being optimized for core density, power efficiency also plays an important role in the Zen 4C design and appealing to cloud service providers.

The standard Bergamo SKUs include a 112-core EPYC 9734 and then the 128-core EPYC 9754S and EPYC 9754 processors. With two EPYC 9754 processors means 256 cores / 512 threads is possible per 2P server. The EPYC 9754 has a base clock of 2.25GHz, an all-core boost speed of 3.1GHz, and a maximum boost clock of 3.1GHz while having a 256MB L3 cache. The EPYC 9754 has a default TDP of 360 Watts but a configurable TDP of 320 to 400 Watts. The list price on the EPYC 9754 is $11,900 USD.

While the primary emphasis of Bergamo is on CSPs and running many containers/VMs per server, there are also workloads capable of scaling to 256 threads -- or 512 threads in the case of a 2P server. In this initial article is a look at some of those very threaded workloads for showing how they can leverage Bergamo for providing even greater performance than what's already possible with the Genoa server processors. The dense Zen 4C cores aren't great for all workloads but there are many real-world workloads where the 128 cores / 256 threads per socket of Bergamo can mean even better performance than Genoa(X) and widening the lead against the competition.

For looking at the EPYC 9754 the processors tested for today's launch review included:

- AMD EPYC 7773X 2P Milan-X
- AMD EPYC 9554 2P Genoa
- AMD EPYC 9654 2P Genoa
- AMD EPYC 9754 2P Bergamo
- AMD EPYC 9684X 2P Genoa-X
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 2P Ice Lake
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H 2P Sapphire Rapids

All CPUs were tested on air cooling. The AMD EPYC Genoa(X) and Bergamo processors were tested both in the default performance determinism mode as well as in the power determinism mode and 400W cTDP set from the BIOS. All benchmarks occurred on Ubuntu 23.04 with the Linux 6.2 kernel while also making use of the GCC 13 compiler. During all CPU tests the "performance" CPU frequency scaling governor was used.

I had also hoped to include the dual Ampere Altra Max M128-30 processors for this Bergamo comparison but unfortunately firmware woes on the Mt Jade reference server prevented that comparison from happening. And then on the AmpereOne front there is no word yet on any hardware for review/testing while Bergamo is now indeed shipping and can leverage the SP5 server platforms that have begun shipping in recent months.