- AMD Helios MI450 rack shined at OCP summit with dense AI setup
- 72-GPU system features new OCP configuration and PCIe Gen6 storage evolution
- Custom Helios version of Meta 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 at the show.
ServeTheHome‘s Patrick Kennedy was there and took a few photos of the glowing 72 GPU rack that attracted all the engineers and attendees who got too close to its orbit.
“While the show was open, there were crowds of people watching it every time I walked by,” Kennedy said.
The Helios system on display was AMD’s reference design and was valued at approximately $3 million.
At the top of the rack were 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 switching section placed centrally between the upper and lower compute layers.
According to Kennedy, EDSFF E1.S SSDs were visible on both sides of the compute platters, reflecting the move away from 2.5-inch U.2 connectors in the PCIe Gen6 generation.
Beneath the platters were more power shelves, powering the 72 GPUs arranged in the frame.
The design appeared to be focused on data center deployment, not just display purposes, with particular attention paid to power delivery and access to services.
“AMD has a deal with OpenAI for the MI400 series. It announced a 50,000 GPU deal with Oracle. Additionally, Meta has a custom rack that at first glance might look like AMD’s Helios rack, but the power exchange and scalable networking in the rack are 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 up top instead of power, used more DACs than multimode fiber, and moved power to a sidecar via a horizontal bus bar connected to both the top and center of the rack.
The contrasting configurations between AMD and Meta show how flexible the Helios concept can be when extended to all operators.
“What is clear is that the AMD Helios AI Rack has convinced a number of major AI stores to invest in the solution,” concluded Kennedy.
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