Folks must be exceedingly enthusiastic about this motherboard. At ISC 2023 we noticed the ASRock Rack ALTRAD8U-1L2T. This can be a mATX platform (properly 9.6″ x 10.5″) with a socket LGA4926. Which means one can use an Ampere Altra Max processor in it and get 128 Arm cores in a desktop or server platform.
ASRock Rack ALTRAD8U-1L2T mATX Motherboard for Ampere Altra
In case you are an Arm developer, the following photograph may simply be nirvana. Now we have been ready for a platform like this for years. That is an Ampere Altra Max mATX arm server motherboard.
Right here is the CPU socket the place one can use Ampere Altra Max processors. That is the primary 128 core mATX-ish platform that we’re conscious of. Since that is an older technology of processors with AmpereOne coming to co-exist above the Altra Max, it nonetheless makes use of DDR4-3200 and is simply eight reminiscence channels which means it suits considerably in mATX dimensions.
To the suitable of the socket, we see SlimSAS connectors for added PCIe connectivity through cabling.
As regards to PCIe connectivity, we now have 4x PCIe Gen4 x16 slots, so there’s fairly a bit right here.
We additionally see the ASPEED AST2500 BMC subsequent to the slots.
For boot units, there are two M.2 slots onboard.
The highest left nook is unusually fascinating. There’s a massive heatsink for the Intel X550 10Gbase-T controller in addition to two Oculink ports for extra connectivity.
Right here is the spec sheet for the motherboard:
There’s a lot there.
Ultimate Phrases
Put this very excessive on the record of server motherboards we hope to evaluation sooner or later. One of many massive challenges may also be heatsinks because the ecosystem round these is just not huge. Nonetheless we’d like to have one in every of these within the lab since it will imply a 128-core compact mATX platform. Now we have been ready for a standards-compliant NUC-like field for years. Now we now have perhaps one thing not as small, however an inexpensive measurement that one can use affordable instances for. That is going to be an enormous product for the Arm improvement neighborhood.
Whereas we noticed this at ISC earlier within the week, hopefully we get a transport timeline replace at Computex.
