Intel’s highest-performing Information Heart GPU Max compute GPUs, codenamed Ponte Vecchio, will come within the type of OAM modules aimed toward blade machines for supercomputing. The corporate can also be prepping humble Information Heart GPU Max add-on playing cards that may go into mainstream servers and workstations. These playing cards will observe the newest style and are available geared up with the 12VHPWR energy connector.
Intel’s Information Heart GPU Max 1100 employs a cut-down single-stack model of Intel’s Ponte Vecchio processor that options 56 Xe-HPC compute cores that includes 448 512-bit vector engines, 448 4096-bit matrix engines, 56 ray tracing cores, and 48GB of HBM2E reminiscence. The unit consumes as much as 300W of energy. Because it seems, the graphics card depends on an auxiliary PCIe 5.0 energy connector, in accordance with an Intel video.
Nvidia was the primary firm to make use of the 12VHPWR energy connector on a client graphics card, the GeForce RTX 4090. Sadly, for now, 12VHPWR connectors have a nasty popularity amongst fanatics. There have been 20 consumer experiences of the 16-pin energy adapter melting and three circumstances of the native 16-pin energy connector struggling the identical meltdowns. Andreas Schilling from HardwareLuxx.de jokingly tweeted, “Let’s hope these datacenter consultants know higher the way to insert that 12VHPWR adapter appropriately.” There was a few theories from consultants within the discipline, however nothing conclusive as we’re nonetheless ready for the outcomes of Nvidia’s investigation.
It’s unclear why Intel used a 12VHPWR energy connector for its 300W card. Nonetheless, it’s doable that the corporate determined to undertake a PCIe Gen5 answer for its half that might be used primarily with Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids servers designed across the new commonplace.
Intel’s add-in Information Heart GPU Max 1100 board is designed each for mainstream servers and for workstations utilized by people who want very excessive AI (i.e., INT8, BF16, FP16, and so on.) and HPC (i.e., FP64) efficiency for synthetic intelligence/deep studying and numerous compute-intensive and simulation workloads. Utilizing Xe-Hyperlink interconnects, the cardboard can work as a single board, in pairs, or in 4-way configurations. As soon as 4 such accelerators are put in right into a PC, they are going to draw 1,200W, which is by any means quite a bit. However with 4 doubtlessly hazardous energy connectors, such a system could possibly be referred to as unsafe.
At present, solely Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 (resulting from be launched on November 16) use the 12VHPWR energy connectors. Each AMD’s Radeon RX 7900-series and Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics playing cards use commonplace eight-pin PCIe auxiliary energy connectors.