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AMD Instinct MI250 vs AMD Instinct MI300X: Spec Comparison & Buyer's Guide

In AI infrastructure selection, AMD Instinct MI250 and AMD Instinct MI300X are two accelerators frequently compared. This article contrasts them item by item — architecture, compute, memory, power, and release cadence — to help you quickly judge which fits training or inference workloads.

Spec Comparison Table

VendorAMD Instinct MI250AMD Instinct MI300X
VendorAMDAMD
ArchitectureCDNA 2CDNA 3
ProcessTSMC 6nmTSMC 5nm + 6nm
Release Date2021-11-082023-06-13
FP8 Compute
FP16 Compute
FP32 Compute47.9 TFLOPS65.3 TFLOPS
INT8 Compute
Memory Type
Memory Capacity128 GB HBM2e192 GB HBM3
Memory Bandwidth3,276.8 GB/s5,300 GB/s
TDP Power500 W750 W

Key Differences

  • Power: AMD Instinct MI250 has a TDP of 500 W, lower than AMD Instinct MI300X's 750 W, friendlier to datacenter PUE and cooling.
  • Memory capacity: AMD Instinct MI300X packs 192 GB HBM3, more than AMD Instinct MI250's 128 GB HBM2e, more comfortable for single-card hosting of very large models.

Selection Advice

  • When chasing extreme single-card compute and a mature toolchain, prioritize AMD Instinct MI250; if budget, power wall, or local support are hard constraints, AMD Instinct MI300X often fits better. Use this site's AI Compute Card Comparison Tool to validate multiple chips side-by-side before deciding.

FAQ

What are the main differences between AMD Instinct MI250 and AMD Instinct MI300X?

The core difference is architecture and compute density: AMD Instinct MI250 uses CDNA 2, FP8 ~No public FP8 data, memory 128 GB HBM2e; AMD Instinct MI300X uses CDNA 3, FP8 ~No public FP8 data, memory 192 GB HBM3. See the comparison table above.

What is the TDP (power) of AMD Instinct MI250?

AMD Instinct MI250 has a TDP of 500 W; actual whole-system power also includes board, fans, and PUE.

Which is better for large-model training / inference?

Training values memory capacity, bandwidth, and multi-card interconnect; inference values single-card throughput and power efficiency. Combine the "Key Differences" and "Selection Advice" above with your batch size, model size, and SLA.

How much do AMD Instinct MI250 and AMD Instinct MI300X differ in memory capacity?

AMD Instinct MI250 is 128 GB HBM2e, AMD Instinct MI300X is 192 GB HBM3; the gap directly affects loadable model size and context length.