- AMD Helios MI450 rack shone at OCP Summit with dense AI configuration
- 72-GPU system showcased new OCP layout and PCIe Gen6 storage evolution
- Meta’s custom Helios version contrasted with distinct 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.
ServeTheHome’s Patrick Kennedy was there and snapped some photos of the glowing 72-GPU rack that suckered in any engineers and attendees who wandered too close its orbit.
“While the show floor was open, there were crowds of folks just staring at this every time I walked by,” Kennedy said.
The Helios system on display was AMD’s reference design and valued at roughly $3 million.
At the top of the rack was the management switch and power shelves, followed by a stack of compute trays.
The layout follows the OCP ORv3 wide rack standard, with a network switch section placed centrally between upper and lower compute layers.
According to Kennedy, EDSFF E1.S SSDs were visible on both sides of the compute trays, reflecting the shift away from 2.5-inch U.2 connectors in the PCIe Gen6 generation.
Beneath the trays were more power shelves, feeding the 72 GPUs arranged within the frame.
The design appeared to be focused on data center deployment, not just display purposes, with clear attention to power delivery 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 at first glance might look similar to AMD’s Helios rack, but the swapping of power and scale-out networking in the rack is very different,” Kennedy observed.
Meta’s custom rack, using a Rittal frame, was across from 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 power delivery 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 operators.
“What is clear is that the AMD Helios AI rack has convinced a number of large AI shops to invest in the solution,” Kennedy concluded.
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waynewilliams@onmail.com (Wayne Williams)
