Intel has launched the Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGA, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) with High Bandwidth Memory DRAM (HBM2) – targeting high-performance computing (HPC), data centers, network functions virtualization (NFV), and broadcast applications.
The integrated FPGA and the HBM2 is the backbone of Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGAs to offer up to 10 times the memory bandwidth when compared with standalone DDR memory solutions.
Intel said the newly launched Stratix 10 MX FPGAs are the essential multi-function accelerators for high-performance computing (HPC), data centers, network functions virtualization (NFV), and broadcast applications that require hardware accelerators to speed-up mass data movements and stream data pipeline frameworks.
HBM2-based FPGAs can compress and accelerate larger data movements compared with stand-alone FPGAs. Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGAs can simultaneously read/write data and encrypt/decrypt data in real-time without burdening the host CPU resources.
“To accelerate these workloads, memory bandwidth needs to keep pace with the explosion in data,” said Reynette Au, vice president of marketing, Intel Programmable Solutions Group. “We designed the Intel Stratix 10 MX family to provide a new class of FPGA-based multi-function data accelerators for HPC and HPDA markets.”
Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGA provides a maximum memory bandwidth of 512 gigabytes per second with the integrated HBM2. HBM2 vertically stacks DRAM layers using silicon via (TSV) technology. These DRAM layers sit on a base layer that connects to the FPGA using high density micro bumps.
The Intel Stratix 10 MX FPGA utilizes Intel’s Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) that speeds communication between FPGA fabric and the DRAM. EMIB works to efficiently integrate HBM2 with a high-performance monolithic FPGA fabric, solving the memory bandwidth bottleneck in a power-efficient manner.
Intel is shipping several Intel Stratix 10 FPGA family variants, including Intel Stratix 10 GX FPGAs (with 28G transceivers) and the Intel Stratix 10 SX FPGAs (with embedded quad-core ARM processor). The Intel Stratix 10 FPGA family utilizes Intel’s 14 nm FinFET manufacturing process and incorporates packaging technology, including EMIB.
