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AMD's 256-core EPYC 9996 lists at $14,904, under half the per-core price of the 64-core 9556
AMD's Zen 6 EPYC price list, obtained by StorageReview, runs from $700 for 8 cores to $14,904 for the 256-core EPYC 9996. Refresh budgets now have a fixed CPU line, while memory, boards and power for the larger SP7 socket still need their own estimate.
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What happened
- AMD's nine SP7 parts start with the 64-core EPYC 9556 at $8,008 and top out with the 256-core EPYC 9996.
- The 9996's Turin-generation predecessor, the EPYC 9965, launched at around $14,800, according to Tom's Hardware.
- SP7 supports 16 channels of DDR5-12800 in RDIMM or MRDIMM form, up to 96 PCIe 6.0 lanes, and parts rated from 400W to 600W.
- SP8 has eight memory channels, no MRDIMM support and 128 PCIe 6.0 lanes, for parts rated 130W to 400W.
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Why it matters
- cost Budgets built on Turin's flagship carry over almost unchanged, because the 9996 lists only about $104 above the 9965's launch price.
- decision Single-socket SP8 buyers can cut the CPU line by 6% to 26% with P-suffix parts, so paying for 2P capability now needs a stated reason.
- constraint Workloads that need 5 GHz pay for it twice: the 64-core EPYC 9586F costs close to the 96-core 9656 and is rated 100W higher.
Tom's Hardware puts the 64-core EPYC 9556 at about $125.12 a core and the 256-core EPYC 9996 at $58.21 [5]. By that measure the top of the SP7 range is cheaper per core by a factor of about 2.15 [1].
SP8 does not follow the same curve at its ends. The 8-core EPYC 9106 lists at $700 and the 128-core EPYC 9746 at $11,679 [9]. Those work out to $87.50 and about $91.24 a core [6][2]. On these two data points, the smallest SP8 part is slightly cheaper per core than the largest.
Stepping from the 9746 to the 9996 costs $3,225 and adds 128 cores [3]. Each extra core costs about $25.20 [7]. On the CPU line alone, a dense build belongs on SP7.
The socket choice brings costs that sit outside the price list. Filling every channel at one DIMM per channel takes 16 modules on SP7 against 8 on SP8 [4]. Tom's Hardware prices a dual-9996 system at $29,808 in processors, before memory, an expense it calls significant at current prices [6]. Readers checking the source should note one slip. A sentence in its SP8 section credits the 130W-to-400W range to SP7 [13]. The section describes SP8, and the SP7 range the same article gives is 400W to 600W [2].
Two things have to hold before the CPU figures carry into a refresh model. First, the list has to be close to what a volume buyer pays. Tom's Hardware reports the figures from a list StorageReview obtained [1]. Second, a per-core comparison against a current fleet assumes one Zen 6 core replaces one older core, and a price list cannot establish that. In my view, the 9746-versus-9996 decision should wait until each part sits beside a priced, fully populated memory configuration and a throughput number measured on the team's own workload.
What to watch
- AMD publishing its own Venice price list and ship dates, confirming or revising the StorageReview figures.
- SP7 motherboard and DDR5-12800 MRDIMM pricing, which sets the platform cost the CPU list excludes.
- Independent per-core throughput results for Zen 6 against Turin at matched TDP.