Ditto. Seriously get it right. Epyc chips have been known about for over a year and there’s still the misunderstanding that 128 lanes was a stretch of marketing only meant for 2 socket systems. Simple math would make it pretty clear that this board has at least 72 PCI-E lanes and if the CPU only had 64 then the article would need to note which were on switches and sharing. This is far too common of a misstatement to continue propogating.
I think the confusion comes from a misunderstanding abt the unusual subtractive PCIe lane aggregation in 2S systems. All Epyc SoCs have 128 PCIe lanes by themselves, but in a 2S system half of the physical pins for PCIe are instead repurposed for Infinity Fabric to tie the CPUs together so Epyc systems have 128 PCIe lanes in both 1S and 2S configurations, which is a bit unintuitive as most of us are used to PCIe lanes aggregating in an additive linear manner in multi-socket systems and the CPU-to-CPU interconnect using totally different pins for QPI/UPI/Hypertransport/etc.
the epyc chips have 128 lanes, when in two socket formation, 64 lanes from both chips goes to communicating across sockets. The Epyc platform has 128 lanes, which is why this mother board is a joke.
Not sure I follow your conclusion there, skipper. This motherboard directly exposes 72 lanes to the user in the form of PCIe slots and 4 more via the NVMe slot and that's before you count whatever's required for the management device and its NIC, 2x 1Gb, 2x 10Gb and 16x SATA III links. Where's the joke?
The EPYC has 128 PCIe lanes - not 64 as in the article. For a workstation it is a bit low on USB ports - a PCIe to USB card is likely to be needed. Audio is often needed for a workstation - as the motherboard does not provide it, this is likely to hog a USB port. The onboard video with D-Sub output is more suitable to a server than a workstation - it would have been better replaced with onboard audio. Overall this motherboard looks like a small server motherboard not a workstation one.
Judging by the ports and the manual on offer, this seems more like something designed to offer AMD EPYC performance in an ATX size but that one would access like a server via remote login from a desk PC. Designed to to be used maybe in a small office or lab with several workers who need access to high performance only sometimes, not all the time. Not the same sort of thing I think of when I hear workstation either. Although of course it can be used as such in a pinch with various addons. :)
Allot of server boards have very cheap graphics chips built on the board for this purpose. No 3d capabilities, it's just for hookup to monitor in server room for management. This is probably same thing considering it's just d-sub.
Allot of server boards have very cheap graphics chips built on the board for this purpose. No 3d capabilities, it's just for hookup to monitor in server room for management. This is probably same thing considering it's just d-sub.
I know I am not the only one tired of seeing AMD motherboards with 5 slots. How about 7x8 w/ 16s interleaved ? Why use ATX with a socket like that ??? The whole concept of that board makes no sense. It's a shame there are broken x99 plx boards still around and I have to look at AMD mobos with limited PCIe options.
Awesome, finally something to replace my ancient dual Opteron 2389 ATX system at home ... the board has about the same level of features. I would expect onboard audio however, those are dirt cheap these days.
not seen any, they are probably all under the embargo of intel. When they would even try to build a WS that off course would kick ass the competition they will loose all the r&d funding from intel....
The MZ01-AR0 motherboard that these appear to be based on has PCIe 3.0 slots. We have one of those in our server room.
These motherboards are for the first-gen EPYC CPUs that are currently available. No motherboards have been shown yet for the second-gen EPYC CPUs (aka "Rome") that will support PCIe 4.0.
The MZ01-AR0 motherboard that these appear to be based on has PCIe 3.0 slots. We have one of those in our server room.
These motherboards are for the first-gen EPYC CPUs that are currently available. No motherboards have been shown yet for the second-gen EPYC CPUs (aka "Rome") that will support PCIe 4.0.
In which situation would you put an EPIC CPU in your WS instead of an Threadripper? In the end a big part of the total calculation power comes down to the power envelope available. When would you need a more expensive WS with less CPU power?
Easy, with the 7371 that is being released, granted only a 16-core like my 1950X in my current workstation, you get 3.6GHz all core, 3.8GHz on 8-cores. So, it is roughly a 1950X but with the full accoutrements of 8 memory channels and 128 PCIe lanes.
Seeing as I already have a 1950X that I've owned since release, I cannot justify the estimated $1400-1500 price of the Epyc 7371, but will be able to justify the switch to something like this when I upgrade the workstation. With the Asrock Epyc workstation board, it has more of the features that fit my uses than these Gigabyte boards, but with vendors now supporting such rigs, I have definitely made the decision to get something like that with the speed optimized Epyc 2 chips.
I am still torn, though, as Zen 3 Epyc 3 should support DDR5, and justifying buying registered versus unbuffered is easier when moving to a new platform such as that (along with PCIe 5.0 being finalized likely in Q1 2019).
Either way, comparing this to the 28-core Xeon from Intel with 6-channel memory and only like 40 or 48 lanes while needing two PSUs to run makes this an easy decision, for me at least.
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hetzbh - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
Threadripper has 64 PCIe lanes, EPYC has 128 lanesRedGreenBlue - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
Ditto. Seriously get it right. Epyc chips have been known about for over a year and there’s still the misunderstanding that 128 lanes was a stretch of marketing only meant for 2 socket systems. Simple math would make it pretty clear that this board has at least 72 PCI-E lanes and if the CPU only had 64 then the article would need to note which were on switches and sharing.This is far too common of a misstatement to continue propogating.
RedGreenBlue - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
*at least 76 lanes. Not sure how many could be for the 10gb lanKateH - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
I think the confusion comes from a misunderstanding abt the unusual subtractive PCIe lane aggregation in 2S systems. All Epyc SoCs have 128 PCIe lanes by themselves, but in a 2S system half of the physical pins for PCIe are instead repurposed for Infinity Fabric to tie the CPUs together so Epyc systems have 128 PCIe lanes in both 1S and 2S configurations, which is a bit unintuitive as most of us are used to PCIe lanes aggregating in an additive linear manner in multi-socket systems and the CPU-to-CPU interconnect using totally different pins for QPI/UPI/Hypertransport/etc.peacenik - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
the epyc chips have 128 lanes, when in two socket formation, 64 lanes from both chips goes to communicating across sockets. The Epyc platform has 128 lanes, which is why this mother board is a joke.Spunjji - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Not sure I follow your conclusion there, skipper. This motherboard directly exposes 72 lanes to the user in the form of PCIe slots and 4 more via the NVMe slot and that's before you count whatever's required for the management device and its NIC, 2x 1Gb, 2x 10Gb and 16x SATA III links. Where's the joke?Wingartz - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
Man it reminds me of the first time I had the X58 mobo, all those memory slots and a massive cpu socketDuncan Macdonald - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
The EPYC has 128 PCIe lanes - not 64 as in the article.For a workstation it is a bit low on USB ports - a PCIe to USB card is likely to be needed.
Audio is often needed for a workstation - as the motherboard does not provide it, this is likely to hog a USB port.
The onboard video with D-Sub output is more suitable to a server than a workstation - it would have been better replaced with onboard audio.
Overall this motherboard looks like a small server motherboard not a workstation one.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
Judging by the ports and the manual on offer, this seems more like something designed to offer AMD EPYC performance in an ATX size but that one would access like a server via remote login from a desk PC. Designed to to be used maybe in a small office or lab with several workers who need access to high performance only sometimes, not all the time.Not the same sort of thing I think of when I hear workstation either. Although of course it can be used as such in a pinch with various addons. :)
ajp_anton - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
What is driving the D-Sub port? There's no built-in GPU in EPYC.Hul8 - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
"Aspeed AST2500 BMC", as stated in the "Graphics" section of the spec box. It's a server management processor with 2D video output.Deshi! - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Allot of server boards have very cheap graphics chips built on the board for this purpose. No 3d capabilities, it's just for hookup to monitor in server room for management. This is probably same thing considering it's just d-sub.Deshi! - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Allot of server boards have very cheap graphics chips built on the board for this purpose. No 3d capabilities, it's just for hookup to monitor in server room for management. This is probably same thing considering it's just d-sub.Duncan Macdonald - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
The video is driven by the Aspeed’s AST2500 BMC (as shown in the table beside the word Graphics!!!)ajp_anton - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Sorry, I somehow missed it.peacenik - Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - link
I know I am not the only one tired of seeing AMD motherboards with 5 slots. How about 7x8 w/ 16s interleaved ? Why use ATX with a socket like that ??? The whole concept of that board makes no sense. It's a shame there are broken x99 plx boards still around and I have to look at AMD mobos with limited PCIe options.yeeeeman - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
EPYC is gaining traction, OEMs start to be interested in it and that is a good thing cause this is a very good chip for not a whole lot of money.haplo602 - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Awesome, finally something to replace my ancient dual Opteron 2389 ATX system at home ... the board has about the same level of features. I would expect onboard audio however, those are dirt cheap these days.hanselltc - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Hmm. 10Gbit networking, common in the movie industries and Linus' backyard.quorm - Thursday, November 8, 2018 - link
Are any of the major oems offering epyc workstations yet? As of a couple months ago neither HP nor Dell seemed to have anything.duploxxx - Friday, November 9, 2018 - link
not seen any, they are probably all under the embargo of intel. When they would even try to build a WS that off course would kick ass the competition they will loose all the r&d funding from intel....csell - Friday, November 9, 2018 - link
Can any confirm the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot?AMD just demoed the coming Zen 2 EPYC at the Next Horizon event with PCIe 4.0 x16 slot.
phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
The MZ01-AR0 motherboard that these appear to be based on has PCIe 3.0 slots. We have one of those in our server room.These motherboards are for the first-gen EPYC CPUs that are currently available. No motherboards have been shown yet for the second-gen EPYC CPUs (aka "Rome") that will support PCIe 4.0.
phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
The MZ01-AR0 motherboard that these appear to be based on has PCIe 3.0 slots. We have one of those in our server room.These motherboards are for the first-gen EPYC CPUs that are currently available. No motherboards have been shown yet for the second-gen EPYC CPUs (aka "Rome") that will support PCIe 4.0.
BeZnojeK - Saturday, November 10, 2018 - link
I believe in amd. We are waiting for a new generation of processors at the right price!phoenix_rizzen - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
The MZ31-CE0 is pretty much the perfect motherboard for a storage server.Dual-10g Ethernet, 5 PCIe slots for storage controllers, and 16 SATA3 ports onboard.
Stick that into a 2U server with LSI 9305-16e controllers connecting a bunch of JBOD chassis and you have the makings for a great SAN/NAS setup.
Foeketijn - Friday, December 14, 2018 - link
In which situation would you put an EPIC CPU in your WS instead of an Threadripper?In the end a big part of the total calculation power comes down to the power envelope available.
When would you need a more expensive WS with less CPU power?
ajc9988 - Sunday, December 16, 2018 - link
Easy, with the 7371 that is being released, granted only a 16-core like my 1950X in my current workstation, you get 3.6GHz all core, 3.8GHz on 8-cores. So, it is roughly a 1950X but with the full accoutrements of 8 memory channels and 128 PCIe lanes.Seeing as I already have a 1950X that I've owned since release, I cannot justify the estimated $1400-1500 price of the Epyc 7371, but will be able to justify the switch to something like this when I upgrade the workstation. With the Asrock Epyc workstation board, it has more of the features that fit my uses than these Gigabyte boards, but with vendors now supporting such rigs, I have definitely made the decision to get something like that with the speed optimized Epyc 2 chips.
I am still torn, though, as Zen 3 Epyc 3 should support DDR5, and justifying buying registered versus unbuffered is easier when moving to a new platform such as that (along with PCIe 5.0 being finalized likely in Q1 2019).
Either way, comparing this to the 28-core Xeon from Intel with 6-channel memory and only like 40 or 48 lanes while needing two PSUs to run makes this an easy decision, for me at least.