AMD EPYC 9255 24c/48t 3.2GHz-4.3GHz 200W (100-000000694)

AMD EPYC 9255 Server CPU

Positioning within the EPYC 9005 lineup

AMD EPYC 9255 is a Zen 5–based EPYC processor designed as a balanced high-performance option within the EPYC 9005 family. It targets enterprise and cloud environments that require a combination of strong per-core performance, solid parallel throughput, and next-generation platform capabilities without moving to the highest power envelopes. EPYC 9255 fits naturally into general-purpose compute tiers where versatility and predictable scaling are key requirements.

Core configuration and execution characteristics

The processor provides 24 cores and 48 threads, operating at a 3.2 GHz base frequency with boost clocks up to 4.3 GHz. This frequency profile delivers a well-balanced execution model, supporting both latency-sensitive tasks and moderately parallel workloads. In real-world deployments, EPYC 9255 performs consistently across diverse application mixes, making it suitable for shared enterprise platforms.

Compared to lower-core, frequency-focused models, EPYC 9255 offers improved parallel capacity while maintaining strong per-core responsiveness. This balance is particularly useful for application servers, middleware layers, and virtualization environments hosting heterogeneous workloads.

Cache architecture and data locality behavior

EPYC 9255 includes 128 MB of L3 cache, providing a healthy cache-to-core ratio for general-purpose enterprise workloads. This cache capacity helps reduce memory access latency for frequently reused datasets and improves stability under concurrent load.

In multi-tenant environments, the shared L3 cache contributes to predictable performance by mitigating cache contention between workloads, especially during peak utilization periods.

Memory subsystem and bandwidth advantages

The processor supports DDR5-6400 memory across 12 memory channels, delivering extremely high aggregate memory bandwidth per socket. This capability is one of the defining strengths of the EPYC 9005 platform and allows EPYC 9255 to handle memory-intensive services, in-memory data processing, and high VM density efficiently.

Balanced DIMM population across all channels is recommended to fully exploit available bandwidth and maintain consistent latency under sustained load.

I/O capabilities and platform integration

EPYC 9255 supports PCI Express 5.0 with up to 128 lanes, enabling fast NVMe storage, next-generation networking, and accelerator connectivity without external switches. This extensive I/O capacity allows system architects to design flexible server configurations that scale storage and networking independently of compute resources.

The processor uses the SP5 socket and supports dual-socket configurations, enabling systems to scale in aggregate compute power, memory capacity, and I/O bandwidth while maintaining platform consistency.

Power envelope and deployment considerations

EPYC 9255 is rated at 200 W TDP, offering a favorable balance between performance and power efficiency. This power profile simplifies cooling requirements compared to higher-end SKUs while still delivering strong sustained performance in production environments.

In properly engineered systems, the processor maintains stable boost behavior and predictable performance under continuous enterprise workloads.

Ideal use cases and selection guidance

EPYC 9255 is best suited for environments that require a versatile, balanced Zen 5 server CPU. Typical use cases include enterprise application and middleware servers, virtualization hosts with mixed workload profiles, cloud infrastructure tiers focused on flexibility and efficiency, and data services that benefit from both frequency and parallelism. For workloads dominated by extreme parallelism, higher core-count EPYC models may be more appropriate. For strictly latency-bound applications, higher-frequency SKUs may deliver better results. EPYC 9255 is an excellent choice when the objective is to deploy Zen 5 technology with DDR5-6400 memory and PCIe 5.0 connectivity in a balanced, general-purpose server platform.