3 ms·

Just two things: - 250W TDP is HUGE - motherboard for this processor is expensive

OJFord 5y ago
> 250W TDP is huge 128 cores is too though, I imagine it's pretty linear?
jakuboboza 5y ago
is it ? Most of EPYC processors are TDP 180/200 watt and there are cheap mobos for them that can host even two sockets. So I don't think that would be a big issue. Also we don't even know how they calculate TDP, lets not forget every single company Intel, Amd, Nvidia etc... have their own weird formula to calculate TDP. Your Intel 12900k has TDP on paper of 125W but can easily jump to 300W of power consumed. Without knowing formula for TDP calculation from every manufacturer this type of comparison is only a guessing game.
- mobilio 5y ago
  That's i'm afraid too. If on paper their TDP is 250W, but on real-life scenario jump to 350W or even over then situation will be screwed.
tehbeard 5y ago
if this was an Intel chip, then yeah 250W TDP is huge given their core counts.. But for something packing a similar core count to EPYC/Threadripper, it's in the right ballpark.
NavinF 5y ago
Is it though? My desktop CPU regularly pulls 150W. 250W is pretty normal for a server. That said, I agree that motherboards will be really expensive since we’re not gonna see hundreds/thousands of models competing on price like we see with every new x86 socket.
- mobilio 5y ago
  Here is example - Power9 mobo: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-threadripper-core9&num=1 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t... "Pricing on POWER hardware remains a bit high depending upon your budget: pricing on the motherboard itself is $2,499.00 or $1,129.99 for the Lite version that is single-socket only. Pricing on the IBM POWER9 CPUs starts at $375 USD for the quad-core or $2625 USD for the 22-core processor." $1129 for single slot and $2499 for dual slots is overkill! And now for Ampere. Their reference platform is "Mount Jade". And here is server: https://store.avantek.co.uk/ampere-altra-mt-jade.html https://store.avantek.co.uk/ampere-altra-mt-jade.html $23k without processors, ram or disks.
  - NavinF 5y ago
    lol at those prices it would be cheaper for every buyer to partner with the CPU mfg, obtain the reference design, and send it to a chinese PCB shop to get it manufactured and assembled yourself
jeffbee 5y ago
I just bought a new Intel CPU that draws 125-241W (they don't give a TDP any more) and it only has 8 cores. It is very fast, though. I don't think 250W is outrageous for a chip with this much logic on it.
addaon 5y ago
The new Intel i9-12900K's have a published power usage of 241 W in turbo mode. Modern high-end Intel desktop motherboards are designed to sustain this indefinitely, treating it as a TDP.

> 250W TDP is huge 128 cores is too though, I imagine it's pretty linear?

is it ? Most of EPYC processors are TDP 180/200 watt and there are cheap mobos for them that can host even two sockets. So I don't think that would be a big issue. Also we don't even know how they calculate TDP, lets not forget every single company Intel, Amd, Nvidia etc... have their own weird formula to calculate TDP. Your Intel 12900k has TDP on paper of 125W but can easily jump to 300W of power consumed. Without knowing formula for TDP calculation from every manufacturer this type of comparison is only a guessing game.

mobilio 5y ago
That's i'm afraid too. If on paper their TDP is 250W, but on real-life scenario jump to 350W or even over then situation will be screwed.

tehbeard 5y ago

if this was an Intel chip, then yeah 250W TDP is huge given their core counts.. But for something packing a similar core count to EPYC/Threadripper, it's in the right ballpark.

NavinF 5y ago

Is it though? My desktop CPU regularly pulls 150W. 250W is pretty normal for a server. That said, I agree that motherboards will be really expensive since we’re not gonna see hundreds/thousands of models competing on price like we see with every new x86 socket.

mobilio 5y ago
Here is example - Power9 mobo: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-threadripper-core9&num=1 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=power9-t... "Pricing on POWER hardware remains a bit high depending upon your budget: pricing on the motherboard itself is $2,499.00 or $1,129.99 for the Lite version that is single-socket only. Pricing on the IBM POWER9 CPUs starts at $375 USD for the quad-core or $2625 USD for the 22-core processor." $1129 for single slot and $2499 for dual slots is overkill! And now for Ampere. Their reference platform is "Mount Jade". And here is server: https://store.avantek.co.uk/ampere-altra-mt-jade.html https://store.avantek.co.uk/ampere-altra-mt-jade.html $23k without processors, ram or disks.
- NavinF 5y ago
  lol at those prices it would be cheaper for every buyer to partner with the CPU mfg, obtain the reference design, and send it to a chinese PCB shop to get it manufactured and assembled yourself

jeffbee 5y ago

I just bought a new Intel CPU that draws 125-241W (they don't give a TDP any more) and it only has 8 cores. It is very fast, though. I don't think 250W is outrageous for a chip with this much logic on it.

addaon 5y ago

The new Intel i9-12900K's have a published power usage of 241 W in turbo mode. Modern high-end Intel desktop motherboards are designed to sustain this indefinitely, treating it as a TDP.