H100 Power Consumption: Nvidia's Latest Advancements in Datacenter Technology

In the ever-intensifying race for datacenter dominance, Nvidia has unveiled its latest arsenal of innovations at the spring GTC event. Among the highlights is the introduction of the Hopper GPU architecture and the H100 GPU, poised to revolutionize datacenter-scale systems, particularly for High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads. An exemplary product that embodies these advancements is the AS-4125GS-TNRT from Server Simply. This server is designed to leverage the capabilities of Nvidia's new GPU technology, providing unparalleled performance and efficiency for the most demanding datacenter applications.

The H100 GPU's Technical Marvels:

The H100 GPU, representing Nvidia's first Hopper-based product, is a technological powerhouse. Fabricated on TSMC's 4N process and boasting a staggering 80 billion transistors, it outpaces its predecessor, the 7nm A100 GPU, by a remarkable 68 percent. The H100 sets the stage for innovation by being the first GPU to support PCIe Gen5 and the maiden utilization of HBM3, which results in an astonishing memory bandwidth of 3TB/s.

Named in honor of Grace Hopper, the renowned computer scientist and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, the H100 GPU provides impressive performance figures, including 30 teraflops of peak standard IEEE FP64 performance, 60 teraflops of peak FP64 tensor core performance, and 60 teraflops of peak FP32 performance. The introduction of the new FP8 tensor core numerical format opens the door to an extraordinary 4,000 theoretical teraflops of AI performance.

Hopper's Impact on Transformer Models and DPX Instructions:

Hopper introduces built-in acceleration for transformer models, a pivotal component of natural language processing. The Hopper Transformer Engine dynamically adapts calculations between 8-bit and 16-bit precision, achieving significant speed enhancements without sacrificing accuracy.

Additionally, Hopper introduces new DPX instructions that profoundly impact various algorithms, such as route optimization and genomics, accelerating dynamic programming by a staggering 7x compared to previous-generation GPUs and a whopping 40x compared to CPUs.

Revolutionary NVLink Technology:

Hopper showcases the fourth-generation Nvidia NVLink technology, which extends beyond the server realm with the introduction of the new NVLink Switch. This cutting-edge system connects up to 256 H100 GPUs (32-node DGX Pods) at 9x higher bandwidth than the previous generation, courtesy of Nvidia HDR Quantum InfiniBand.

Versatility in Form Factors and vSAN Compatibility:

The Hopper GPU is not limited to a single form factor. In addition to the SXM mezzanine form factor for DGX and HGX systems, it is also available as an H100 PCIe GPU, offering the option of linking two GPUs via an NVLink bridge. Furthermore, Nvidia presents the H100 CNX, a converged accelerator pairing the H100 with a ConnectX-7 SmartNIC, catering to mainstream servers and boosting GPU bandwidth by four times while simultaneously freeing up CPU resources for other tasks. As data centers increasingly adopt virtual storage solutions, understanding the implications of vSAN and its ESA Requirements becomes crucial in optimizing storage architectures for high-performance computing environments like those enabled by Nvidia's H100 GPUs.

Power Efficiency and Compatibility:

The DGX H100, powered by eight H100 GPUs, projects a maximum power consumption of approximately 10.2 kW, a 1.6x increase compared to the DGX A100. This is attributed to the H100's higher thermal envelope, drawing up to 700 watts compared to the A100's 400 watts. Nvidia ingeniously addresses this by increasing the DGX's height by 2U, ensuring efficient air-cooling.

The Future of Datacenters:

Nvidia's H100 SXM will be available on HGX H100 server boards, offering cloud providers and system manufacturers the flexibility to build their own H100 systems and clusters.

A Glimpse into the Future: Grace Superchips and More:

In parallel with the H100 launch, Nvidia has also teased the Grace Arm CPU, introducing "Grace Superchips" in two distinctive form factors. The Grace Hopper Superchip, designed for massive-scale AI and HPC applications, boasts remarkable memory capacity on the GPU and features a high-speed coherent interconnect called NVLink C2C.

The Grace CPU Superchip, part of the same platform, offers a projected performance boost of 1.5x over current AMD CPUs, along with impressive energy efficiency. Both the Grace Hopper Superchip and Grace CPU Superchip are slated for release in the first half of 2023.

The Power of NVLink C2C and UCIe:

Nvidia is opening up NVLink C2C for custom silicon integrations, enabling customers to create their own Superchips. Additionally, Nvidia has committed to supporting the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) standard, offering customers more choices for chip and system-level integrations.

Availability and Partnerships:

DGX systems and H100 GPUs are set to ship in the third quarter of the year, with pricing details forthcoming. A wide array of partners, including leading cloud providers and system manufacturers, are lining up to support and integrate H100 GPUs, reaffirming Nvidia's pivotal role in shaping the future of datacenter technology.

Nvidia's relentless pursuit of innovation, epitomized by the H100 GPU and related technologies, underscores its commitment to revolutionizing datacenter capabilities and setting new industry standards. As we move further into the digital age, these advancements promise to reshape the landscape of HPC and AI workloads, paving the way for unprecedented possibilities in datacenter performance and efficiency.