AMD Instinct MI300A APU

AMD Instinct MI300A APU

AMD Instinct MI300A APU: The Power of Hybrid Computing in 2025

An Overview of Architecture, Performance, and Practical Aspects


1. Architecture and Key Features

CDNA 3 + Zen 4: A Hybrid Breakthrough

The AMD Instinct MI300A APU is the world's first hybrid accelerator that combines the CDNA 3 architecture (for GPU) and Zen 4 architecture (for CPU) on a single chip. The chip is manufactured using TSMC's 3-nanometer process, achieving a record transistor density of up to 146 billion. This allows for the integration of 24 Zen 4 cores and 192 CDNA 3 compute units optimized for parallel tasks.

Unique Features

- AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4.0: Enhanced AI-powered upscaling that increases FPS in games by up to 50% without sacrificing quality.

- XDNA AI Accelerators: Hardware blocks for machine learning that accelerate neural network processing.

- Unified Memory Architecture: A single address space for both CPU and GPU that reduces data exchange latency.


2. Memory: Speed and Capacity for Any Task

HBM3 + DDR5: Maximum Bandwidth

The MI300A is equipped with 128 GB of HBM3 memory with a bandwidth of 5.2 TB/s and 32 GB of DDR5 for the CPU portion. This addresses the "bottleneck" problem in tasks dealing with large data volumes, such as 8K rendering or GPT-5 training.

Impact on Performance

In the SPECworkstation 2025 tests, the chip shows a 40% higher data processing speed compared to the MI250X, thanks to the unified memory. In gaming at 4K, HBM3 ensures stable texture streaming, minimizing FPS drops.


3. Gaming Performance: Not Just for Computation

Real FPS Metrics

Despite its professional orientation, the MI300A performs well in gaming:

- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (4K, Ultra, RT Ultra): 68 FPS (with FSR 4.0 — 102 FPS).

- Starfield: Extended Universe (1440p, Ultra): 94 FPS.

- Horizon Forbidden West (1080p, Epic): 120 FPS.

Ray Tracing

The 2nd-generation hardware RT accelerators provide a performance increase of up to 30% compared to RDNA 3. However, in this regard, the NVIDIA RTX 6090 retains its lead due to specialized tensor cores.


4. Professional Tasks: Rendering, Science, AI

Video Editing and 3D

In DaVinci Resolve 19, the chip processes 8K projects in real-time, while in Blender, the rendering cycle for the BMW scene is reduced to 45 seconds (25% faster than the NVIDIA H200).

Scientific Calculations

Support for ROCm 6.0 and OpenCL 3.5 makes the MI300A ideal for simulations in CFD and molecular modeling. In the SPECfp_rate 2025 test, it scores 142 points compared to 130 for the H200.

Machine Learning

Thanks to the XDNA AI Accelerators, training the ResNet-200 neural network takes 8 hours (compared to 10 for competitors).


5. Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP 450W: Cooling Requirements

The MI300A is designed for servers and workstations. Recommended cooling solutions include:

- Liquid cooling systems with a 360mm radiator or industrial-grade turbine coolers.

- Cases with airflow of at least 6 fans (e.g., Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic EVO).

Energy Efficiency

At peak load, the chip consumes 450W, but due to the 3-nanometer process, it is 20% more efficient than the MI250X in terms of wattage.


6. Comparison with Competitors

NVIDIA H200 vs AMD MI300A

- Memory: 144 GB HBM3 in H200 versus 128 GB in MI300A, but AMD has higher speed (5.2 vs 4.8 TB/s).

- AI Performance: In MLPerf 2025 tests, H200 leads due to CUDA, but MI300A excels in hybrid tasks (CPU + GPU).

- Price: $6500 for MI300A versus $8500 for H200.

Intel Falcon Shores

A new contender from Intel (2024) with 128 Xe cores and 120 GB HBM3. It falls short in energy efficiency (TDP 500W) and software support.


7. Practical Tips

Power Supply

A minimum of 1000W with an 80+ Platinum certification (e.g., Corsair AX1000) is recommended.

Compatibility

- Motherboards: Only AMD SP6 (LGA 6096) and compatible with sWRX9.

- OS: Best optimized for Linux (RHEL 9.5, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS).

Drivers

- For gaming: Use AMD Adrenalin Edition 2025.4.

- For professional tasks: ROCm 6.0 + proprietary packages from ISV.


8. Pros and Cons

Pros

- Revolutionary hybrid architecture.

- Record memory bandwidth.

- Competitive pricing for the HPC segment.

Cons

- Limited gaming optimization.

- High cooling requirements.

- Challenges with setup under Windows.


9. Final Conclusion: Who is the MI300A For?

This APU is designed for:

- Scientists and engineers working with Big Data and AI.

- Rendering studios where fast processing of 8K content is crucial.

- IT laboratories developing hybrid CPU-GPU algorithms.

Gamers and regular users are not recommended to opt for the MI300A; its potential is unlocked in a professional environment. If you need a balance between gaming and work, consider the Radeon RX 8900 XT.


Price and Availability

The AMD Instinct MI300A APU will be available starting January 2025 at a suggested price of $6499. Deliveries will be carried out through AMD partners (Supermicro, Dell, HP).

Basic

Label Name
AMD
Platform
Professional
Launch Date
December 2023
Model Name
Instinct MI300A
Generation
Instinct
Base Clock
1000MHz
Boost Clock
2100MHz
Bus Interface
PCIe 5.0 x16

Memory Specifications

Memory Size
128GB
Memory Type
HBM3
Memory Bus
?
The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.
8192bit
Memory Clock
5200MHz
Bandwidth
?
Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.
5300 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Texture Rate
?
Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.
1496 GTexel/s
FP16 (half)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.
980.6 TFLOPS
FP64 (double)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
61.3 TFLOPS
FP32 (float)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
125.052 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units
?
The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.
14592
L1 Cache
16 KB (per CU)
L2 Cache
16MB
TDP
760W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)
Score
125.052 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS
166.668 +33.3%
83.354 -33.3%
68.248 -45.4%
60.838 -51.3%