Cloudflare unveils 12th-gen servers with AMD’s 96-core EPYC 9684X Genoa-X CPUs — promises up to 145% more RPS, 63% better efficiency, and enhanced AI capabilities

The servers aren't just more powerful, they're also more efficient

News By Wayne Williams published 13 October 2024

Cloudflare has announced the deployment of its 12th generation servers, powered by AMD EPYC 9684X Genoa-X processors, delivering improved performance and efficiency across its infrastructure.

The new processor has 96 cores, 192 threads, and a massive 1152MB of L3 cache - three times that of AMD’s standard Genoa processors.

This substantial cache boost helps reduce latency and improve performance in data-intensive applications, with Cloudflare saying Genoa-X delivers a 22.5% improvement over other AMD EPYC models.

Updated AI developer products

According to the cloud provider, the new Gen 12 servers can handle up to 145% more requests per second (RPS) and offer a 63% increase in power efficiency compared to the previous Gen 11 models. The updated thermal-mechanical design and expanded GPU support offer enhanced capabilities for AI and machine learning workloads.

The new servers are equipped with 384GB of DDR5-4800 memory across 12 channels, 16TB of NVMe storage, and dual 25 GbE network connectivity. This configuration enables Cloudflare to support higher memory throughput and faster storage access, optimizing performance for a range of computationally intensive tasks. Additionally, each server is powered by dual 800W Titanium-grade power supply units, providing greater energy efficiency across its global data centers.

Cloudflare is keen to stress these improvements are not just about raw power but also about delivering more efficient performance. The company says the move from a 1U to a 2U form factor, along with improved airflow design, reduced fan power consumption by 150W, contributing to the server’s overall efficiency gains. The Gen 12 server’s power consumption is 600W at typical operating conditions, a notable increase from the Gen 11’s 400W but justified by the significant performance improvements.

The new generation also includes enhanced security features with hardware root of trust (HRoT) and Data Center Secure Control Module (DC-SCM 2.0) integration. This setup ensures boot firmware integrity and modular security, protecting against firmware attacks and reducing vulnerabilities.

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