In some cases, the Altra processor lineup from Ampere, which is based on the Arm architecture, outperforms x86 competitors in terms of performance and power efficiency.
The firm offers devices with up to 128 cores, and they support multiple sockets.
Der8auer, a YouTuber and overclocker, recently uploaded a new video exhibiting the capabilities of an Ampere Altra Q80-30 server processor. He also delidded a sample so viewers could examine what lies beneath the IHS.
The Altra Q80-30 uses TSMC’s N7 manufacturing process and has 80 QuickSilver cores (based on Arm’s Neoverse N1 architecture evolved from the Cortex-A76 seen in some smartphone SoCs).
It has a maximum frequency of 3GHz, 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes, and eight channels of DDR4 memory.
On an air-cooled system using one of these processors, Der8auer performed Geekbench 5, and he received a staggering 44,425 multi-core score.
In contrast, the current world record-holder, an AMD Threadripper 3990X with liquid cooling and a significant overclock, only received 34,735 points in the same test.
The YouTuber also mentioned the Arm processor’s outstanding power efficiency, with a CPU-only power draw max of just 180W during testing.
Der8auer used the vice approach to deliver an Altra Q80-30 sample that was likely already dead later in the video.
Surprisingly, Ampere delidded against soldering the IHS to the CPU die like Intel and AMD often do and instead chose to use the industry-standard thermal paste as the thermal interface medium.
Since Arm processors have better power efficiency than x86 architectures, the corporation probably chose this path because it is more cost-effective.
The Altra Q80-CPU 30’s die has a surface area of 574 mm2 and measures around 22.5 mm by 25.5 mm.
Der8auer pitted it head-to-head with an 18-core Intel Core i9-7980XE manufactured on a 14nm node and sporting a 480 mm2 die size.
The Ampere chip, on the other hand, has a larger substrate and more than twice as many pads on the back because it can accommodate far more PCIe lanes.
To read our blog on “Samsung processors built just for the Galaxy could take their sweet time to arrive,” click here.
