GIGABYTE Ampere Altra Servers Launched

GIGABYTE launched eight newly refreshed Arm-based servers for the Ampere Altra processor, comprised of G242-P33, G242-P34, R152-P31, R152-P32, R272-P31, R272-P32, R272-P33, and E252-P31. These cost-effective servers support SATA drives and are designed for use cases that need a higher core count, such as cloud and edge workloads. Updated Arm-based servers were one of the bigger highlights during this year’s OCP (Open Compute Project), offering impressive scalability, predictable high-performance, and power efficiency.

GIGABYTE launched eight newly refreshed Arm-based servers for the Ampere Altra processor, comprised of G242-P33, G242-P34, R152-P31, R152-P32, R272-P31, R272-P32, R272-P33, and E252-P31. These cost-effective servers support SATA drives and are designed for use cases that need a higher core count, such as cloud and edge workloads. Updated Arm-based servers were one of the bigger highlights during this year’s OCP (Open Compute Project), offering impressive scalability, predictable high-performance, and power efficiency.

GIGABYTE Ampere Altra Servers

Ampere’s Altra processors offer the highest core count server processor in the industry, while its focus on power-efficient architecture and design means it can offer the highest core density per device and rack possible. Of course, GIGABYTE wants to offer customers a wide variety of options to help set themselves apart from the larger server vendors who have been reluctant to embrace Arm-based servers. GIGABYTE Ampere Altra servers offer a lot of flexibility as seen in the key specifications below.

Processor Subsystem	•         80 Arm® v8.2+ 64-bit CPU cores up to 3.30 GHz maximum •         64 KB L1 I-cache, 64 KB L1 D-cache per core •         1 MB L2 cache per core •         32 MB System Level Cache (SLC) •         2x full-width (128b) SIMD •         Coherent Mesh Interconnect (CMI) ‒ Distributed snoop filtering
Memory	•         8x 72-bit DDR4-3200 channels •         SECDED ECC, Symbol-based ECC, and DDR4 RAS features •         Up to 16 DIMMs and 4 TB/socket
System Resources	•         Full interrupt virtualization (GICv3) •         Full I/O virtualization (SMMUv3) •         Enterprise server-class RAS
Connectivity	•         128 lanes of PCIe Gen4: 8 x8 PCIe + 4 x16 PCIe/CCIX with Extended Speed Mode •         (ESM) support for data transfers at 20/25 GT/s: 48 controllers to support up to 32 x2 links •         192 PCIe lanes in 2P configuration •         Coherent multi-socket support •         4 x16 CCIX lanes
Technology and Functionality	•         Armv8.2+, SBSA Level 4 •         Advanced Power Management: Dynamic estimation, Voltage droop mitigation
Performance and Power	•         Est. SPECrate® 2017_int_base: 300 •         TDP: 45 W to 250 W
Process Technology	•         TSMC 7 nm FinFET

The GIGABYTE Ampere Altra servers all support a single-socket processor with sixteen DIMMs, two PCIe Gen4 M.2 slots, dual 1GbE LAN ports, a dedicated management port, and all PCIe Gen4 expansion slots. The G242-P33 features dual 80+ Platinum power supplies and is designed for organizations that have GPU-centric workloads. The new R-series and E-series models both have a redundant PSU configuration.

The refreshed line also focuses on security, as all models have a firm hardware Root of Trust to help prevent the firmware from being compromised and to protect against cyber threats. Moreover, the SATA controller allows all SATA drives to connect directly through a device in the OCP mezzanine or PCIe expansion slot on the motherboard. Though the I/O controller in the PCIe and/or OCP slots supports all SATA drives, it is not compatible with SAS drives and doesn’t support RAID technology (these were available in previous models).

Here’s a rundown of what each newly refreshed GIGABYTE Ampere Altra server offers:

G242-P33

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Up to 4 x NVIDIA PCIe Gen4 GPU cards
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 4 x 3.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 4 x PCIe Gen4 x16 expansion slots for GPU cards (Internal)
• 3 x PCIe Gen4 x8 low profile expansion slots in rear side
• 2 x 80 PLUS Platinum 1600W (240V) power supply

G242-P34

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Up to 2 x NVIDIA A100 PCIe Gen4 GPU cards
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 4 x 3.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 2 x PCIe Gen4 x16 expansion slots for GPU cards (Internal)
• 3 x PCIe Gen4 x8 low profile expansion slots in rear side
• 2 x 80 PLUS Platinum 1600W (240V) power supply

R152-P31

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 6 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 4 x 2.5″ NVMe hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 1 x PCIe Gen4 x16 expansion slot
• 650W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

R152-P32

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 2 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 8 x 2.5″ NVMe hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 850W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

R272-P31

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 8 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 6 x low profile PCIe Gen4 expansion slots
• 800W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

R272-P32

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 8 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 4 x 2.5″ NVMe hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 4 x low profile PCIe Gen4 expansion slots
• 800W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

R272-P33

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 8 x 2.5″ NVMe hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 4 x low profile PCIe Gen4 expansion slots
• 1 x OCP 2.0 mezzanine slot
• 1200W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

E252-P31

• Hardware-level root of trust support
• Single socket Ampere Altra Processor
• 8-Channel RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR4, 16 x DIMMs
• 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I350-AM2)
• 1 x Dedicated management port
• 6 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays
• 2 x Ultra-Fast M.2 with PCIe Gen4 x4 interface
• 6 x low profile PCIe Gen4 expansion slots
• 800W 80 PLUS Platinum redundant power supply

Availability

The eight new GIGABYTE Arm-based servers are available now.

G242-P33, G242-P34, R152-P31, R152-P32, R272-P31, R272-P32, R272-P33, E252-P31

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