Selecting Dual EPYC motherboard... Is there any other option except Supermicro?

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automobile

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Googled, but no luck... Seems like Supermicro H11DSi-series is the only motherboard for Dual EPYC configuration...
The other choice is Gigabyte MZ31-AR0 or Tyan Tomcat SX S8026, but it has only a single EPYC socket...
I like my Supermicro H11DSi-NT, but it has no Hard Disk Drive activity LED (2-pin HDD LED) on board. Sometimes it is useful for testing purposes...
There are many dual EPYC barebones from ASUS, Gigabyte, but they don't provide a motherboard option only.
I'm a bit confused, as there are so many Dual socket motherboards for Intel's configuration...
Maybe I missed something? Is there any other Dual EPYC motherboard except Supermicro H11DSi?
 

Patrick

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A few insights:

  • Most systems are sold as complete servers. If you are building your own it is a small market
  • Intel still has well over 95% market share. So there will be more options for Intel than AMD given it is a larger market
  • The new AMD dual socket platforms have two big sockets and 16-32 DIMM slots. These do not fit well on EATX platforms.
  • Most of the motherboards are a custom form factor for proprietary servers
Buying a barebones at minimum is a good idea
 
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deepankar

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Hello Patrick - I am considering a dual Epyc build myself. I noticed a while back on the Workstation section of this forum that you were doing a workstation build based on H11DSi-NT. Did that happen? Is that motherboard standard E-ATX? I am considering building with the Enthoo Pro case which claims full E-ATX support. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. My hesitation in buying a barebone is that since I intend to use this as a workstation I am afraid the barebone might be too loud (due to a noisy power supply).
 
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Patrick

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Hello Patrick - I am considering a dual Epyc build myself. I noticed a while back on the Workstation section of this forum that you were doing a workstation build based on H11DSi-NT. Did that happen? Is that motherboard standard E-ATX? I am considering building with the Enthoo Pro case which claims full E-ATX support. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
Here is a good place to start with that project:
https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-as-4023s-trt-review-dual-amd-epyc-4u-tower-server/

Again, I would generally advise against using EPYC as a workstation. Single core performance is around half of a standard workstation CPU.
 

automobile

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Buying a barebones at minimum is a good idea
You're almost right, but earplugs don't come bundled.
why do you want to build a custom workstation with a server board? That's the first thing I'm thinking.
Well, EPYC is powerful, works well, it's cheaper than top of Intel's CPUs, it's also good in rendering, 2666 memory, multicore performance is perfect, why not? And you can watercool it, getting an absolute silent workstation...
Moreover it doesn't have Meltdown and other Intel's vulnerabilities (I don't care, but it's another advantage).
Regarding the motherboard - as there is no any other choice, I'm choosing server mobo. Its only flaw it doesn't have an HDD led activity header (Does the 4023S-TRT 4U have?)
 
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Patrick

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Also, if you are using say 2x 170W CPUs, plus 1-2 300W GPUs you are looking at running a 1kW system (assume a bit more for other bits like RAM, drives, NICs and etc.)

That is not great for the in-room environment. It is a lot of heat which means a lot of AC and lot of chassis airflow.

Generally, folks use around 100W per person. So that is 10 people standing next to your desk with a 1kW system.
 
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alex_stief

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Earlier this year, ASRock Rack claimed they were working on dual-socket SP3 boards. But it has been pretty silent in that corner and since then they only announced single-socket boards. So unfortunately, Supermicro is your only option if you want to buy the board retail.
 

deepankar

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why do you want to build a custom workstation with a server board? That's the first thing I'm thinking.
Work on databases and a lot of my work involves writing simulations for high thread count scenarios. Right now the Epyc cpus seem like ridiculously good value for what I do (especially the 7551 which can be had for about $2k on ebay right now). As a side bonus code compilation also scales fairly well with high core counts. I did some test runs on the Epyc server available on packet.net and performance was a huge boost over my current workstation (Dual 2670 Xeon Gen 1 ). Xeons with similar thread counts are much more expensive at the moment.
 
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101

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Unless you need the density of an epyc 2 socket board, you should consider the single socket options. AMD is targeting VMs/U with an obvious storage slant considering the available lanes, for more homelaby/dev applications you are better off (assuming epyc) with multiple single socket boards assuming (again) you have the rack real estate. Also consider interacting with those boards with some higher IPC workstation focused parts.
 

Myth

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So that's 192 cores/threads? That's crazy!

But for NVMe storage you still only get 128 PCIe lanes even with two processors.
 

Patrick

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Hey @deepankar were these from dinsdale? I have two from them. They are not working in Supermicro, HPE, Dell, Tyan, Gigabyte EPYC systems thus far.
 
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deepankar

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@Patrick - Darned!!! Indeed they are from dinsdale. Will see what my options are once I get the CPUs. Thanks for letting me know, I really appreciate it.
 

deepankar

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Build is up and running now, eventually decided to go with the Fractal Design XL R2, the machine is nearly silent.
 

alex_stief

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And what about the CPUs? Did they run? Could you return them? Did you end up buying other CPUs?