---
myst:
    html_meta:
        "description": "AMD Instinct MI300A acceptance criteria — prerequisites, health checks, system validation, and performance benchmarks for CDNA 3 APU platforms."
        "keywords": "MI300A, AMD Instinct, APU, CDNA 3, ROCm, system acceptance, validation, benchmarks, HBM3"
---

# AMD Instinct MI300A

The AMD Instinct™ MI300A is a data-center Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) that integrates AMD "Zen 4" CPU cores and CDNA 3 GPU compute dies on a single package with unified HBM3 memory. This document provides MI300A-specific prerequisites, health checks, validation steps, and performance acceptance criteria.

## Overview

The MI300A is built on the CDNA 3 architecture (gfx942) and combines CPU and GPU compute dies sharing a single coherent pool of 128 GB HBM3 per APU. Unlike discrete OAM accelerators, MI300A platforms are vendor-defined; a typical qualified configuration hosts 4 MI300A APUs per node.

- **[MI300A Product Page](https://www.amd.com/en/products/accelerators/instinct/mi300/mi300a.html)**
- **[MI300A Data Sheet](https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd/en/documents/instinct-tech-docs/data-sheets/amd-instinct-mi300a-data-sheet.pdf)**
- **[AMD Instinct MI300 Series microarchitecture](https://instinct.docs.amd.com/latest/gpu-arch/mi300.html)**

## System requirements

### Operating system support

For the most up-to-date information on supported operating systems and distributions, refer to the official ROCm documentation:

[ROCm System Requirements - Supported Distributions](https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-linux/en/latest/reference/system-requirements.html#supported-distributions)

```{note}
[ROCm docs](https://rocm.docs.amd.com) is the single source of truth for supported versions, distribution compatibility, and required dependencies for the ROCm toolkit.
```

For BIOS, IOMMU, transparent hugepages, NUMA, and OS-level tuning that applies to all AMD Instinct hosts, see [BIOS settings](../common/bios-settings.md), [OS tuning](../common/os-tuning.md), and [Kernel parameters](../common/kernel-parameters.md). MI300A requires a Linux kernel that supports "Zen 4" (≥ 5.18 recommended).

### GPU identification

All MI300A APUs (PCI vendor:device `1002:74a0`) should appear in `lspci` output:

```bash
sudo lspci -d 1002:74a0
```

Expected output example:

```bash
0000:01:00.0 Processing accelerators: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Aqua Vanjaram [Instinct MI300A]
0001:01:00.0 Processing accelerators: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Aqua Vanjaram [Instinct MI300A]
0002:01:00.0 Processing accelerators: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Aqua Vanjaram [Instinct MI300A]
0003:01:00.0 Processing accelerators: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Aqua Vanjaram [Instinct MI300A]
```

## Acceptance criteria

The MI300A system acceptance process validates that the platform is correctly configured, stable, and performing to expectations. Follow the sequence: Prerequisites → Basic Health Checks → System Validation → Performance Benchmarks.

### System acceptance process

1. **[Prerequisites validation](#prerequisites-validation)** - Ensure all system requirements and dependencies are met
2. **[Basic health checks](#basic-health-checks)** - Verify hardware detection and basic system health
3. **[System validation](#system-validation)** - Conduct comprehensive stress testing and qualification
4. **[Performance benchmarks](#performance-benchmarks)** - Validate compute, memory, and interconnect performance

The system is accepted when all criteria below are successfully validated.

### Prerequisites validation

Ensure all system requirements are met before proceeding with validation. See the [Prerequisites documentation](../common/prerequisites.md) and [System setup](../common/system-setup.md) for more details.

- ✅ Supported operating system version installed with kernel ≥ 5.18 (Zen 4 support)
- ✅ Compatible ROCm version installed (verify: `cat /opt/rocm/.info/version`); see the [ROCm System Requirements](https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-linux/en/latest/reference/system-requirements.html) for the current supported version matrix
- ✅ BIOS configured per [BIOS settings](../common/bios-settings.md), with MI300A-specific values per platform vendor (IOMMU off, memory interleaving, NPS)
- ✅ Required kernel parameters present: `pci=realloc=off transparent_hugepage=always numa_balancing=disable`
- ✅ Sysctl tunings applied: `vm.compaction_proactiveness=20`, `vm.max_map_count` increased per ROCm guide
- ✅ Environment variables (where applicable):
  - `HSA_OVERRIDE_CPU_AFFINITY_DEBUG=0`
  - `GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT` and `GPU_SINGLE_ALLOC_PERCENT` tuned per workload
- ✅ Minimum 4 × 128 GB = 512 GB unified HBM3 visible to the OS usable host-visible memory (note: MI300A's HBM is unified with CPU)
- ✅ Latest applicable firmware applied consistently across nodes
- ✅ ROCm Validation Suite (RVS) installed

### Basic health checks

These checks ensure fundamental system health and proper APU detection. For detailed procedures, see [Health Checks](../common/health-checks.md).

| Test | Command | Pass/Fail criteria |
|------|---------|-------------------|
| [Check OS distribution](../common/health-checks.md#check-os-distribution) | `cat /etc/os-release` | **Pass**: OS version listed in compatibility matrix<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [Check kernel boot arguments](../common/health-checks.md#check-kernel-boot-arguments) | `cat /proc/cmdline` | **Pass**: Contains `pci=realloc=off transparent_hugepage=always numa_balancing=disable`<br>**Fail**: Missing any required param |
| [Check for driver errors](../common/health-checks.md#check-for-driver-errors) | `sudo dmesg -T \| grep amdgpu \| grep -i error` | **Pass**: Null<br>**Fail**: Errors reported |
| [Check available memory](../common/health-checks.md#check-for-available-system-memory) | `lsmem \| grep "Total online memory"` | **Pass**: ≥ 4 × 128 GB = 512 GB unified HBM3 visible to the OS<br>**Fail**: Less than 4 × 128 GB = 512 GB unified HBM3 visible to the OS |
| [Check GPU presence](../common/health-checks.md#check-gpu-presence) | `sudo lspci -d 1002:74a0` | **Pass**: 4 MI300A APUs found<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [Check GPU link speed and width](../common/health-checks.md#check-gpu-pcie-bus-link-speed-and-width) | `sudo lspci -d 1002:74a0 -vvv \| grep -e DevSta -e LnkSta` | **Pass**: Speed PCIe Gen 5 (32 GT/s), width `x16`, no `FatalErr+`<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [Monitor utilization metrics](../common/health-checks.md#monitor-utilization-metrics) | `amd-smi monitor -putm` | **Pass**: Idle metrics as specified<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [Check system kernel logs for errors](../common/health-checks.md#check-system-kernel-logs) | `sudo dmesg -T \| grep -i 'error\|warn\|fail\|exception'` | **Pass**: Null<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |

### System validation

Comprehensive validation ensures system stability under load. For detailed procedures, see [System Validation](../common/system-validation.md).

| Test | Command | Pass/Fail criteria |
|------|---------|-------------------|
| [Compute/GPU properties](../common/system-validation.md#gpu-properties) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/gpup_single.conf` | **Pass**: All APUs listed with no errors<br>**Fail**: Missing APUs or errors |
| [GPU stress test (GST)](../common/system-validation.md#gpu-stress-test) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/MI300A/gst_single.conf` | **Pass**: `met: TRUE` in logs<br>**Fail**: Target GFLOP/s not met |
| [Input energy delay product (IET)](../common/system-validation.md#input-energy-delay-product) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/MI300A/iet_single.conf` | **Pass**: `met: TRUE` for all actions<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [Memory test (MEM)](../common/system-validation.md#mem) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/mem.conf -l mem.txt` | **Pass**: All tests passed; bandwidth ≥ 2.0 TB/s per APU<br>**Fail**: Any test failed or low bandwidth |
| [PCIe bandwidth benchmark (PEBB)](../common/system-validation.md#pcie-bandwidth-benchmark) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/MI300A/pebb_single.conf` | **Pass**: All distances and bandwidths displayed<br>**Fail**: Missing data |
| [PCIe qualification tool (PEQT)](../common/system-validation.md#pcie-qualification-tool) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/peqt_single.conf` | **Pass**: All actions true<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |
| [P2P benchmark and qualification tool (PBQT)](../common/system-validation.md#p2p-benchmark-and-qualification-tool) | `rvs -c ${RVS_CONF}/pbqt_single.conf` | **Pass**: `peers:true` lines and non-zero throughput across all xGMI peers<br>**Fail**: Otherwise |

### Performance benchmarks

Performance validation ensures the system meets MI300A specifications. For detailed procedures, see [Performance Benchmarking](../common/system-validation.md#performance-benchmarking).

:::{card} Command: `TransferBench a2a`
[TransferBench all-to-all](../common/system-validation.md#transferbench)
^^^
**Pass:** ≥ 700 GB/s aggregate
+++
**Fail:** otherwise
:::

:::{card} Command: `TransferBench p2p`
[TransferBench peer-to-peer](../common/system-validation.md#transferbench)
^^^

| Test | Pass criteria |
|------|--------------|
| UniDir | ≥ 80 GB/s |
| BiDir | ≥ 155 GB/s |

+++
**Fail:** otherwise
:::

:::{card} Command: `build/all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 8G -f 2 -g 4`
[RCCL Allreduce](../common/system-validation.md#rccl-allreduce)
^^^
**Pass:** ≥ 230 GB/s busbw (peak, at 8 GiB message size)
+++
**Fail:** otherwise
:::

:::{card} Command: `rocblas-bench` (see code block below)
[rocBLAS FP32](../common/system-validation.md#rocblas-gemm-benchmarks)
^^^

```bash
rocblas-bench -f gemm \
  -r s -m 4000 -n 4000 -k 4000 \
  --lda 4000 --ldb 4000 --ldc 4000 \
  --transposeA N --transposeB T
```

**Pass:** ≥ 60 TFLOPS per APU
+++
**Fail:** otherwise
:::

:::{card} Command: `mpiexec -n 4 wrapper.sh`
[BabelStream](../common/system-validation.md#babelstream)
^^^

| Kernel | Threshold (MB/s) |
|--------|-----------------|
| Copy  | ≥ 2,900,000 |
| Mul   | ≥ 3,000,000 |
| Add   | ≥ 3,250,000 |
| Triad | ≥ 3,250,000 |
| Dot   | ≥ 2,200,000 |

+++
**Fail:** otherwise
:::