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(Very good points, small doubt to pick) > Chips are getting physically bigger They are? Over the years, I got the notion that the cheap controller chips were

(Very good points, small doubt to pick) > Chips are getting physically bigger They are? Over the years, I got the notion that the cheap controller chips were about 30 mm2, the regular desktop CPUs about 100 mm2, and server class powerhouses around 300 mm2. With a quick look, I found mention of Epyc being four 200 mm2 dies packed together: https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331764 https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1331... Wafers have gotten bigger, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_(electronics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_(electronics), but I suppose that manufacturers just want more dies per wafer, not larger dies.

sliken 8y ago
Epyc chip (the package including the 4 ASICS) is pretty huge. It's a decent fraction of a mini-itx motherboard just for the socket. The good news is that while it takes twice the power (170-190 watts or so, 250 in the next generation) it's much easier to dissipate that much with such a large chip. The head density is as low or lower than previous generations. AMD was pretty krafty with this generation. Intel has a huge R&D budget, has it's own fabs, and pushes many different ASICs split into a dizzying array of products. Intel can afford this because they have a MUCH higher volume of parts to amortize the costs over. To compete at many different price/power/performance points AMD uses the exact same ASIC for desktop (1 ASICs with 2 memory channels), workstation (2 ASICs with 4 memory channels), and server (4 ASICS with 8 memory channels). Now AMD can compete across a decent fraction of Intel's produces with a single ASIC and spend more R&D on the second generation without having to re-engineer an entire family of ASICs. Compare any photos of a threadripper or epyc chip, they are easily visible even onstage, it's about as big as the palm of your hand. I believe it's 69.2 mm x 57.9 mm according to a spec I found on the TR4 socket.

sliken 8y ago

Epyc chip (the package including the 4 ASICS) is pretty huge. It's a decent fraction of a mini-itx motherboard just for the socket. The good news is that while it takes twice the power (170-190 watts or so, 250 in the next generation) it's much easier to dissipate that much with such a large chip. The head density is as low or lower than previous generations. AMD was pretty krafty with this generation. Intel has a huge R&D budget, has it's own fabs, and pushes many different ASICs split into a dizzying array of products. Intel can afford this because they have a MUCH higher volume of parts to amortize the costs over. To compete at many different price/power/performance points AMD uses the exact same ASIC for desktop (1 ASICs with 2 memory channels), workstation (2 ASICs with 4 memory channels), and server (4 ASICS with 8 memory channels). Now AMD can compete across a decent fraction of Intel's produces with a single ASIC and spend more R&D on the second generation without having to re-engineer an entire family of ASICs. Compare any photos of a threadripper or epyc chip, they are easily visible even onstage, it's about as big as the palm of your hand. I believe it's 69.2 mm x 57.9 mm according to a spec I found on the TR4 socket.