ISVs are the Glue that Makes Workstations Work

Over the past few weeks, AMD has celebrated the 5th anniversary of AMD Ryzen^TM Threadripper^TM PRO processors by discussing both its technological innovations and the tremendous response it received from customers. Today, I want to address a third factor behind this tremendous success -- the collaboration between AMD, OEMs, and ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) to both certify and optimize their applications for AMD workstation processors.

The Centrality of Certification

ISV certification is a critical differentiating factor that separates consumer components from professional hardware. CPUs, GPUs, and OEM-built workstation systems can all potentially receive ISV certification, depending on the software vendor. While the particulars vary between developers, the evaluation process can be discussed in general terms.

When an ISV certifies either a component or an entire system, they are stating that a product is affirmatively known to run their software well and that it behaves exactly as intended across a wide range of tests and usage scenarios. The certification process has some overlap with system benchmarking and may include performance tests to compare real-world results against expected baselines, but certification encompasses more than just performance tests.

A system sent for ISV validation is always evaluated for stability and might be tested in a wide range of CPU, GPU, and memory configurations. Proving out the workstation can take weeks and may also include verifying multiple driver versions or fine-tuning application settings to ensure optimal performance.

ISV certification is valuable because it tells a potential workstation customer that a component or system they might buy has been validated in the software applications that individual or company depends on. A person who runs into problems while using an ISV-certified system typically has recourse to troubleshooting resources that aren't offered to someone running workloads on unverified hardware.

ISV certifications are one way AMD and its OEMs signal their long-term commitment to the workstation market and the software workstation customers use. Not all ISVs formally certify hardware components or OEM systems, but the vendors that do, take it seriously. AMD has worked with dozens of ISVs to validate their software packages; a complete list of certifications is available on the AMD Workstation Configuration Selector page.

When AMD brought Ryzen Threadripper PRO Series processors to market in 2020, it launched a workstation CPU with up to 64 cores -- more than 2x the number previously available in any single-socket system. AMD additionally adopted a new chiplet architecture in which a number of distinct eight-core processors were connected to a central I/O die. This modularity breakthrough enabled a leap in CPU core counts, but the physical design of the chip was distinctly different than the monolithic processors that dominated the semiconductor industry for decades.

Combine a lack of familiarity with a brand-new architectural design and a radical expansion of core count, and it was clear from the beginning that building a successful workstation business requires more than just a great chip. Such a business needs extensive ecosystem development and an eye towards where trends are headed rather than a myopically backwards focus on where they’ve been.

To exemplify this ecosystem, AMD has worked with both Ansys and MathWorks to implement AMD Optimized CPU Libraries (AOCL), improving performance in both applications, to significant effect.

According to Ansys, “The performance gains delivered by integrating AOCL into Ansys HFSS proved to be so impactful that AOCL is automatically invoked on Ansys HFSS 2023 R1 and higher when Zen-based platforms are detected.”

Sometimes part of the benefit of partnering with an ISV is the amount of time they save switching to AMD hardware. When Epic Games evaluated AMD Ryzen Threadripper and Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors, they blew the company’s performance expectations out of the water.

 “Third-gen Threadripper CPUs with 32 and 64 cores were a game changer,” says Andrew Grant, VP of Creator Platform at Epic Games. “They offered significantly more processing power than anything we could build ourselves with the hardware we’d previously used. It was nothing short of a watershed moment.”

ISV certifications and hardware optimization are, by definition, projects that take place in the background. They don’t necessarily lend themselves to flashy social media stories, especially if you aren’t the kind of person who finds a discussion of thread-pinning practices on high-core count CPUs to be particularly enthralling. But, while these programs may not be flashy, they make up for it with results. Certification and long-term performance improvements give our customers peace of mind. They serve as a tangible demonstration that AMD is committed to Ryzen Threadripper PRO processors as the best workstation CPUs available today. We care enough about our users’ collective experiences to invest in continual software improvement and trust our hardware enough to hand it off to ISV partners to be evaluated against their own requirements.

I’m pleased with what we’ve built over the last five years and look forward to continuing to push the boundaries of what people believe a workstation can achieve.