P
Patrick Kennedy
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The Supermicro A1SRi-2358F is the low power networking platform we have been waiting for. Serving as the centerprese of the motherboard is an Intel Atom C2358 SoC. The Rangely CPU is a dual core model with a paltry 7W TDP. With Rangely, one gets a few key features. First, there is a quad 1GbE MAC. Second, one gets a low power embedded part. Third one gets QuickAssist. Intel QuickAssist technology (QAT) is meant to accelerate certain workloads. One application we are still waiting for is OpenSSL 1.1 which will support QAT making lower power SoCs more capable. OpenSSL 1.1 was scheduled to be released mid-May 2016 but as of this writing two months later it is still not final. Still we wanted to provide an overview of the platform.
Test Configuration
For our testing we utilized a Supermicro SuperServer 5018A-LTN4 platform.
Motherboard/ CPU: Supermicro A1SRi-2358F with Intel C2358 Rangeley 2C/ 2T SoC
SSD: Intel S3700 100GB SSD
Memory: 16GB (2x 8GB) 1600MHz 1.35v SODIMMs
OS: Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, pfSense 2.3.1
We think this is a fairly typical type of configuration similar to the pfSense appliances we have used. We might suggest using a SATA DOM however we wanted to keep the configurations more consistent with other Rangeley systems we have tested.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F Overview
The Supermciro A1SRi-2358F is a very compact server motherboard. It utilizes the mini ITX form factor. That means it is approximately 6.75″ by 6.75″ and makes most standard ATX and larger motherboards look enormous in comparison.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F overview
The Rangeley CPU was first introduced in September 2013 and is intended to long lifespan embedded applications. Performance is significantly better than Atom CPUs of old (you can see example Linux-Bench results here.) This is not a platform meant for heavy compute and is instead focused on providing a low power networking platform.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F airflow
Even with the 7W TDP SoC, the A1SRi-2358F still has a heatsink similar to the other Rangeley models we have seen. This necessitates minimal airflow. Compared to
Supermicro 5018A-LTN4 A1SRi-2358F airflow
Unlike the A1SRi-2758F and A1SRi-2558F we reviewed previously, the A1SRi-2358F is significantly more cost optimized. The platform has only two DDR3 SODIMM slots instead of four and only four SATA ports (two SATA 6.0gbps and two SATA II 3.0gbps) instead of six.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F SODIMM and SATA
With the dual core processor, the 16GB RAM configuration we utilized is likely to to be the higher end of most configurations. One can also add additional networking or storage via the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot onboard. Most embedded network appliances have one or two storage devices so the two onboard ports are likely ample.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F PCIe and ASpeed AST2400
The rear I/O is what we are accustomed to on the Supermicro A1SRi line. There is an array of legacy I/O onboard. There are two USB 2.0 ports, a serial port and a VGA port. Along with these we find an out-of-band IPMI management Ethernet port. Finally there are four gigabit Ethernet ports powered by the Intel i354 MAC. These days, the i354 drivers are integrated into modern OSes.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F rear [...]
The post Supermicro A1SRi-2358F Review – Atom C2358 with QuickAssist appeared first on ServeTheHome - Server and Workstation Reviews.
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Test Configuration
For our testing we utilized a Supermicro SuperServer 5018A-LTN4 platform.
Motherboard/ CPU: Supermicro A1SRi-2358F with Intel C2358 Rangeley 2C/ 2T SoC
SSD: Intel S3700 100GB SSD
Memory: 16GB (2x 8GB) 1600MHz 1.35v SODIMMs
OS: Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, pfSense 2.3.1
We think this is a fairly typical type of configuration similar to the pfSense appliances we have used. We might suggest using a SATA DOM however we wanted to keep the configurations more consistent with other Rangeley systems we have tested.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F Overview
The Supermciro A1SRi-2358F is a very compact server motherboard. It utilizes the mini ITX form factor. That means it is approximately 6.75″ by 6.75″ and makes most standard ATX and larger motherboards look enormous in comparison.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F overview
The Rangeley CPU was first introduced in September 2013 and is intended to long lifespan embedded applications. Performance is significantly better than Atom CPUs of old (you can see example Linux-Bench results here.) This is not a platform meant for heavy compute and is instead focused on providing a low power networking platform.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F airflow
Even with the 7W TDP SoC, the A1SRi-2358F still has a heatsink similar to the other Rangeley models we have seen. This necessitates minimal airflow. Compared to
Supermicro 5018A-LTN4 A1SRi-2358F airflow
Unlike the A1SRi-2758F and A1SRi-2558F we reviewed previously, the A1SRi-2358F is significantly more cost optimized. The platform has only two DDR3 SODIMM slots instead of four and only four SATA ports (two SATA 6.0gbps and two SATA II 3.0gbps) instead of six.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F SODIMM and SATA
With the dual core processor, the 16GB RAM configuration we utilized is likely to to be the higher end of most configurations. One can also add additional networking or storage via the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot onboard. Most embedded network appliances have one or two storage devices so the two onboard ports are likely ample.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F PCIe and ASpeed AST2400
The rear I/O is what we are accustomed to on the Supermicro A1SRi line. There is an array of legacy I/O onboard. There are two USB 2.0 ports, a serial port and a VGA port. Along with these we find an out-of-band IPMI management Ethernet port. Finally there are four gigabit Ethernet ports powered by the Intel i354 MAC. These days, the i354 drivers are integrated into modern OSes.
Supermicro A1SRi-2358F rear [...]
The post Supermicro A1SRi-2358F Review – Atom C2358 with QuickAssist appeared first on ServeTheHome - Server and Workstation Reviews.
Related posts:
- Supermicro A1SRi-2758F Review – Hello Rangeley
- Supermicro X7SPA-HF-D525 & X7SPE-HF-D525 Atom Server Motherboard Review
- Supermicro CSE-502L-200B mITX/ mATX 1U Atom Server Chassis Review
- ASRock C2750D4I Review – Intel Atom C2750 Storage Platform
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