- AMD Helios MI450 rack shined at OCP Summit with tight AI configuration
- 72-GPU system showed new OCP layout and PCIe Gen6 storage development
- Meta’s custom Helios version contrasted with clear power and network strategy
At the recent OCP Summit 2025, AMD’s Helios MI450 rack proved to be one of the standout systems on the show floor.
ServeTheHomePatrick Kennedy was there and took some photos of the glowing 72-GPU rack that sucked in any engineers and attendees who wandered too close to its orbit.
“While the show floor was open, there were tons of people just staring at this every time I walked by,” Kennedy said.
The Helios system shown was AMD’s reference design and valued at around $3 million.
At the top of the rack were the control switch and power shelves, followed by a stack of computer trays.
The layout follows the OCP ORv3 wide rack standard, with a network switch section located centrally between the upper and lower computer layers.
According to Kennedy, EDSFF E1.S SSDs were visible on both sides of the computer trays, reflecting the shift away from 2.5-inch U.2 connectors in the PCIe Gen6 generation.
Underneath the trays were several power racks that fed the 72 GPUs arranged in the frame.
The design appeared to be focused on data center deployment, not just display purposes, with clear attention to power supply and service access.
“AMD has a deal with OpenAI for the MI400 series. It announced a 50,000 GPU deal with Oracle. Furthermore, Meta has a custom rack that may look similar to AMD’s Helios rack at first glance, but the power replacement and scale-out network in the rack is very different,” noted Kennedy.
Meta’s custom rack, which used a Rittal frame, was opposite AMD’s rack at the OCP Summit. It had four 64-port Ethernet switches at the top instead of power, used more DACs than multimode fiber, and moved the power supply to a sidecar through a horizontal busbar connected at both the top and center of the rack.
The contrasting layouts between AMD and Meta show how flexible the Helios concept can be when scaled across carriers.
“What is clear is that the AMD Helios AI racket has convinced a number of major AI shops to invest in the solution,” Kennedy concluded.
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