ASRock Rack has a historical past of constructing some distinctive motherboards. The ASRock Rack GENOAD8UD-2T/X550 firmly suits into that class. In case you are on the lookout for a motherboard that matches an AMD EPYC Genoa in a smaller-than-EATX type issue (which is what most choices are nowadays) then this may be the motherboard for you. On the identical time, there are trade-offs being made that we discovered when constructing round this motherboard. Allow us to get to the {hardware}.
Simply as a fast notice, we’re engaged on a construct piece with this motherboard so anticipate to see it once more quickly. We wished to get the motherboard assessment out first, then present an software of the motherboard.
ASRock Rack GENOAD8UD-2T/X550 {Hardware} Overview
Allow us to begin with the primary distinctive function: the shape issue. This isn’t a 9.6″ x 9.6″ mATX type issue or a 12″ x 9″ ATX type issue. As an alternative, it’s 10.4″ x 10.5″. Even with a non-standard measurement, even discovering room for the motherboard standoff mounting factors seems as if it was tougher for ASRock Rack. That non-standard chassis additionally meant that the primary chassis we tried to construct this motherboard into didn’t match.
The second trade-off is the CPU and reminiscence configuration. ASRock Rack helps Socket SP5 for the AMD EPYC 9004 Genoa processors. In our latest ASRock Rack 1U4LW-B650/2L2T AMD Ryzen server assessment we noticed a motherboard that was bigger than this one housing solely sixteen cores. This ASRock Rack platform can home as much as 96 at present, and we anticipate 128 with Bergamo later this 12 months. That’s the level of the platform, to densely populate cores into smaller type elements. A key trade-off to make this work is that as an alternative of a full set of 12x DDR5 RDIMM slots, we get solely 8x. There’s simply not sufficient room on the motherboard to suit greater than this.
On the suitable fringe of the motherboard, we are able to see six five-pin fan headers. That could be a pretty good set since we anticipate this platform to wish cooling. A 3rd trade-off with the platform is the facility scenario. Given bodily measurement constraints, the motherboard doesn’t have a regular 24-pin energy connector. As an alternative, it has three 12V CPU energy inputs. That does imply it additionally helps DC enter if one has a big 12V DC energy supply. Many energy provides would not have three 12V inputs, and one wants to make use of an adapter to carry out regular energy features from a regular energy provide’s 24-pin ATX connector.
Whereas which will sound like quite a lot of trade-offs, there are some areas the place this blows away a regular mATX motherboard past simply the core counts. For instance, there are 4 PCIe enlargement slots. These will not be only for present, every is a PCIe Gen5 x16 slot. That’s solely half of the EPYC Genoa’s PCIe Gen5 slot capability. The Gen5 x16 slots are additionally the lanes from the EPYC CPU that assist CXL 1.1 Kind-3 units. See Compute Categorical Hyperlink CXL 3.0 as our newest information in that space. We didn’t get to check these slots with the CXL units, nonetheless, we’re nonetheless within the early days of units and assist so our readers ought to view CXL assist as a little bit of a forward-looking function.
Having 64x PCIe Gen5/ CXL lanes is nice, however there’s much more. Subsequent to those slots are two PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 slots for boot SSDs.
There are headers and a POST code show on the underside fringe of the motherboard, however the different massive function is on the suitable edge. There are a complete of 4 PCIe Gen5 x8 MCIO connectors and one x4 MCIO. MCIO is a more moderen connector for the PCIe Gen5/ CXL era, nonetheless, these are PCIe Gen5. Two of the x8 connectors may run as 8x SATA III headers, however our sense is that it’s extra environment friendly to make use of a HBA to connect with lower-speed SATA units. There are not any 7-pin SATA connectors on this motherboard which feels refreshingly trendy.
One good function is that ASRock has these MCIO connectors which can be in step with the PCIe x16 slots parallel to the motherboard. It additionally implies that for those who plan to make use of this motherboard in a chassis there’s a bit of additional chassis clearance wanted to make use of these ports.
Here’s a view from the opposite angle.
Here’s a view wanting on the motherboard from the usual airflow path to present a way of the profile and the way the slots and connectors align.
Subsequent to the CPU we’ve got the VRM heatsinks but additionally a heatsink for the Intel X550 NIC. This platform has 10Gbase-T networking. There’s not quite a lot of area, so having a minimum of 10GbE as an alternative of 1GbE is welcome.
Apart from the 2 RJ45 10Gbase-T ports, there’s not quite a bit else on the rear I/O aspect of the motherboard. A VGA port and two USB 3 ports present native entry. A administration port supplies out-of-band entry to the platform.
Subsequent, allow us to get to the administration and efficiency.
