Single Epyc 7281 in dual socket mobo

[gradinaruvasile]

How would that work?

Will any pciex lanes be lost or something?

We plan to use 8x16GB DIMMS.

HP 385 platform (we need this platform because we need 8x4TB drives plus 2x 1TB for the OS). But we only need 1 cpu with 16 cores (for now). Don't really fancy 2x7251, those have too many NUMA nodes and no expansion later.

 

[tomaash]

According to these quickspecs (page 7), only three PCIe slots from the primary riser are active with one CPU.

 

[Patrick]

@gradinaruvasile HPE offers single CPU configurations in the DL385 Gen 10 with the 3.5" chassis. We have one in the lab. If possible, look at the EPYC 7301 as an upgrade. The additional performance is well worth the nominal cost.

 

[gradinaruvasile]

@tomaash Thanks i looked for that and for some reason my google fu failed me...

@Patrick
Ook. I talked to our vendor on the phone, explained to him that we need a server with at least 10 3.5" bays and single socket AMD because we need 16 cores only (i was looking at the 7351P). We are located in Eastern Europe.
They said that:

- HP offers the DL385 only with dual socket mobos. We can fit one cpu, but i suppose the platform costs more anyway. Also we can't use the cheaper P cpus.
I looked at the configurator and saw no option to configure single socket on DL385, how did you guys got that?
- Dell has the 7415 model, single socket with many bays, exactly what we need but they also said this model "is not and will never be" available in our area.

BTW we use Proxmox and regarding 7301 vs 7281 for general purpose virtualization only, is there a significant performance delta between them caused by the cache size difference?

 

[Patrick]

@gradinaruvasile on the cache size, exactly. I would recommend getting the larger caches if possible. It helps.

On the DL385 Gen 10, you can see from the picture above, it is a dual socket motherboard, with a single CPU. In that case, it is a single EPYC 7301 in the system. HPE offers base configurations with single CPUs.

On the R7415, likely a regional issue. They are shipping.

 

[gradinaruvasile]

@gradinaruvasile on the cache size, exactly. I would recommend getting the larger caches if possible. It helps.

We'll see about that. We are in tight budget so...

On the DL385 Gen 10, you can see from the picture above, it is a dual socket motherboard, with a single CPU. In that case, it is a single EPYC 7301 in the system. HPE offers base configurations with single CPUs.

Ah, ok, i see it now. I looked it on mobile at first. So we're ok.
BTW what limitations does the server have configured like this?

On the R7415, likely a regional issue. They are shipping.

I suppose so, i could configure the whole server on their site.

PS Slightly off topic. We were offered the HP Smart Array P816i-a for RAID. Is that true hardware raid (with own processor)? I see it has 4 GB cache.

 

[Evan]

True hardware raid for the P816i-a
HP smart array controller work well.

 

[Patrick]

The main limitations are that you do not get all of the I/O lanes. So having multiple risers is not necessary.

The good side is that you can use small 500W PSUs with a single EPYC 16C CPU.