The first AMD Opteron 3300 pedestal
server to market delivers a high core count for the price - and fast storage,
too
AMD might not be a particularly popular
choice with the blue-chip vendors, but Boston has always been a keen proponent
of its Opteron chips. In this exclusive review, we bring you a first look at
AMD’s new Opteron 3300 Series processor in Boston’s Value Series 115T pedestal
server.
Based on AMD’s “Piledriver” core, the
three-strong Opteron 3300 family clearly has Intel’s Ivy Bridge Xeon E3s in its
sights, and all three CPUs tout impressively low power draws. The quad-core
1.9GHz Opteron 3320 EE has a minuscule 25W TDP; the quad-core 2.8 GHz Opteron
3350 HE occupies the mid-range with a TDP of 45W; and the eight-core 2.6GHz
Opteron 3380 - with which Boston has equipped its 115T has a 65W TDP. All the
chips have an 8MB L3 cache and fit AMD’s AM3+ socket, so if you already have an
Opteron 3200 system, you can use these as drop-in upgrades.
Boston
Value Series 115T - The Highest Scalability and the Lowest Possible Power
On paper, the AMD Opteron 3380 matches
Intel’s Xeon E3 v2s in the power department – all Intel’s quad-core variants
have TDPs ranging from 45W to 87W. In our power tests, the 115T acquitted
itself well, drawing only 56W with Windows Server 2012 in idle, and 108W under
heavy load from the SiSoft Sandra benchmarking app.
The peak figures are higher than those of
Supermicro’s RTG RX-M140i (web ID: 378466) -featuring a 3.3GHz Xeon E3-1230 v2,
it peaked at only 80W under heavy load - but this isn’t a like-for-like
comparison. When you consider that the 115T offers double the number of
physical cores and twice the RAM, and has two hard disks rather than one, it
doesn’t look so greedy.
The price includes a generous 16GB of
unbuffered 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, too, and the four RAM slots support a maximum
of 32GB (see 1). Boston has supplied a pair of 8GB DIMMs, so you can go right
to the max without having to replace them.
In terms of dimensions, the 115T is a
compact pedestal server that will sit comfortably on the desktop (or under it).
For physical security, you can padlock the side panel shut, or use the chassis’
Kensington lock.
The internal design is tidy. Cooling is
handled by an 80mm fan at the rear (see 2) and an active heatsink on the CPU,
and, while we noticed the chassis fan speeding up on occasion, noise wasn’t an
issue: this server is extremely quiet, and well suited to a small office.
The 115T is well endowed in the storage
department. The Supermicro H8SML-7F motherboard sports a 6Gbits/sec LSI 2308
SAS2 controller, which q the Value provides eight available USB port for ports
next to the removable four-bay disk cage (see 3). The cage can be released and
swung round for access, and each drive is mounted in lightweight plastic sleds.
The price includes a pair of 3 Gbits/sec 1TB WD Enterprise SATA II hard disks.
If anything is lacking, it’s that the LSI chip’s RAID support extends to only
mirrors and stripes.
The
Value Series 115T has an internal USB port for booting into a hypervisor
The AMD SP5100 chip offers a further six
SATA II ports and support for RAID mirrors and stripes - but, disappointingly,
you can’t use them on this server: the ports are side-mounted at the bottom of
the motherboard, and access is blocked by the base of the chassis. An embedded
power connector is also provided for a SATA DOM, but since it’s right next to
the obstructed SATA ports, it too goes wasted.
The 115T redeems itself elsewhere. It’s
capable of functioning as a virtualization test platform, since it has an
internal USB port for booting into a hypervisor, and the motherboard provides
Supermicro’s embedded IPMI controller and dedicated network port for remote
management. Compared with the likes of HP’s iL04, the web console is basic, but
it isn’t ineffective: it displays data from the motherboard’s sensors, and can
issue SNMP traps and email alerts if preset thresholds are breached.
Full control over power is provided, too,
so you can remotely power the server off and on, reset it, and gracefully power
it down. You also get full remote control and virtual media services included
as standard - features vendors such as HP offer only as an optional upgrade.
With so few server manufacturers embracing
the Opteron 3300 CPUs, it’s impossible to make a direct comparison with the
Value Series 115T. What we can say, however, is that it stacks up well against
the Xeon E3-equipped Dell PowerEdge T110 II (web ID: 369607). The 115T costs a
similar sum but offers double the CPU core count, a fast SAS2-embedded disk
controller, and superior remote management features.
All in all, this pedestal server should
definitely make your shortlist.
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Key Specs
·
Pedestal chassis
·
Supermicro H8SML-7F motherboard
·
2.6GHz AMD Opteron 3380
·
16GB 1,600MHz DDR3 (max 32GB)
·
LSI 2308 SAS2 8-port controller
·
supports RAIDO, 1,10
·
2 x 1TB WD Enterprise SATA II cold-swap hard
disks (max 4)
·
2 x Gigabit Ethernet
·
2 x PCI-E
·
IPMI with 10/100 port
·
290W cabled PSU
·
3yr on-site N BD warranty
·
Power: 56W idle; 108W peak
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