Faced with new competitive pressures and the need to do more with less, manufacturers are embracing new simulation and optimization approaches. For example, the use of digital twin technology – virtual representations of physical objects that mimic their real-world counterparts – is expected to double in the next five years. Similarly, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques is expected to triple, and will be applied in sectors like manufacturing processes, quality assurance, predictive maintenance, and more.[i]

And these changes aren’t just impacting traditional manufacturing – they’re changing the landscapes of sectors as diverse as semiconductor design, pharmaceuticals, financial risk, energy, weather modeling, and more.

Regardless of their industry, customers can never have enough computing capacity to keep pace with growing simulation demand. According to industry surveys, more than 90% of engineers said they’d benefit from additional simulation capacity. Verification engineers need to run regressions faster, manufacturers seek to run more designs of experiments (DOE), meteorologists want to run more complex, higher-resolution weather models faster, and so on.

To keep pace with growing simulation requirements, customers need three things:

• Faster, more cost-effective, and energy-efficient server platforms to quickly run large-scale simulations;
• More effective multiphysics solvers to model real-world problems faster, more efficiently, and with higher fidelity, and
• HPC management software to maximize resource utilization, minimize job turnaround time, and share valuable compute and software assets

The AMD EPYC™ Advantage

Introduced in March 2021, AMD EPYC™ 7003 series processors are ideal for technical computing workloads.[ii] Built on 7nm technology, these processors bring together high-core counts, extreme memory bandwidth, large cache sizes, and massive I/O to deliver exceptional HPC application performance.

AMD 3D V-Cache™ technology extends the performance leadership of EPYC™ 7003 series processors even further for cache-sensitive workloads, providing 3 times the amount of L3 cache of standard EPYC 7003 CPUs. Each EPYC 7003X series processor provides 768 MB of L3 cache and 804 MB of total cache per socket. Using 3D die stacking and a copper-to-copper “bumpless” design, the latest 7003X series processors deliver 200 times the interconnect density compared to current 2D designs.[iii]

Delivering Real-World Application Performance

AMD EPYC™ processors are a compelling choice for compute and memory-intensive structural and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In March 2022, Altair and AMD teamed up to put the latest  3^rd Gen EPYC processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology to the test, and announced performance results for various real-world dynamic finite element structural and CFD simulations:[iv]

• For impact analysis, performance gains for Altair® Radioss® using new 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors with AMD 3D V-Cache™ technology were 1.1x to 1.8x faster than earlier AMD EPYC™ processors without the additional cache, and
• For thermal and CFD analysis, Altair® AcuSolve® ran 1.1x to 1.5x faster than earlier AMD EPYC™ processors using new 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors with AMD 3D V-Cache™ technology

READ THE ARTICLE: Breakthrough Computing Performance with Altair and 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ Processors with AMD 3D V-Cache™ Technology

These results were consistent with similar benchmarks AMD conducted, which showed performance improvements of up to 66% for selected EDA workloads[v] and an average 37% improvement for structural simulations. EPYC 7003X series processors are socket compatible with EPYC 7003 processors, thus enabling customers to upgrade their existing server footprint without disrupting their operations.

HPC Middleware Drives Productivity

Having the best servers and multiphysics solvers is vital for competitiveness, but this is only part of the puzzle. Effective HPC middleware is essential for maximizing throughput and taking full advantage of the latest AMD EPYC™ processors. With smart workload schedulers like Altair® PBS Professional® and Altair Grid Engine®, simulation jobs are automatically dispatched to the servers best suited to the workload. Jobs are scheduled so they keep servers fully utilized, minimize turnaround times, and maximize software license utilization. Altair HPC software extends the capabilities of AMD EPYC™ 7003X-based servers with capabilities that include high-performance scheduling, dependency awareness, I/O monitoring and profiling, and remote access and visualization.

Compelling Business Results

The combination of Altair software and AMD EPYC™ 7003X series processors is a game-changer for organizations that run memory and cache-intensive computer-aided engineering (CAE) workloads. Using Altair tools and servers based on the AMD EPYC 7003X processors, organizations can:

• Boost revenue and profitability by bringing new products to market faster
• Reduce cycle times and speed time-to-market
• Increase productivity by expanding design space and enabling more complex simulations
• Reduce costs by delivering exceptional performance while minimizing server footprint, power, and cooling expenses

To learn more about the latest AMD EPYC 7003X series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache technology, visit https://www.amd.com/epyc.

To learn more about Altair multiphysics solvers and HPC software solutions, visit https://www.altair.com/hpc-cloud-applications/.

[i] 2021 Survey Report: Technology Convergence for a Smarter, More Connected World: Market Trends to 2026

[ii] “Technical Computing” or “Technical Computing Workloads” as defined by AMD can include: electronic design automation, computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, seismic tomography, weather forecasting, quantum mechanics, climate research, molecular modeling, or similar workloads. GD-204

[iii] AMD EPYC™ 7003 Series Processors

[iv] Breakthrough Computing Performance with Altair and 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ Processors with AMD 3D V-Cache™ Technology

[v] AMD Milan-X CPU with 3D V-Cache Available in Four SKUs, Up to 64-Cores