Would it be possible to get a review of more recent AMD server boards from ASRockRack, like the ROMED8HM3 (SP3 socket, supports EPYC Rome, has many PCIe 4.0 slots)?
The ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T is a similarly near perfect board for the current Epyc CPUs; I'd love to see some reviews once it hits retail channels (within a few weeks, hopefully).
I plan to build a new home server before the end of the year so I went and checked that one out. I do want it to be AMD, and not really caring if it's Epyc or Ryzen, just need to find a good board with IPMI like these AsrockRack ones. The only problem I see for me with the ROMED8-2T is no x16 slots and the x8 slots are all closed ended for some reason, so you can't even put an x16 card in them.
Not sure what the requirements are, but I can endorse the Asrockrack X470 boards. Ryzens Zen2 and the x470 make a really efficient powerhouse (just 100 Watts for a 8 core in a noisy but cool 1u server doing stress testing)
Or the ROMED8-2T or ROMED8QM-2T? Really, I guess any of the newer "ROME" models that ASRockRack has listed. These newer boards would be more relevant than the older EPYCD8-2T, of which the ROMED8-2T seems like it's the direct successor.
Yes, please review Epyc boards with PCIe 4. There are several in this price range that have it, so it's not really beneficial to look at boards of the same cost that have half the IO bandwidth.
Tyan's S8030GM4NE-2T has five x16 4.0 slots and the two 10gb Ethernet ports. I'd love to know if that board was any good.
100g is not something that a CPU-based system can saturate. High end switches, aggregating traffic from multiple end points - sure. Software running on a CPU - no.
That is absolutely incorrect. We do it with Infiniband cards via RDMA and easily saturate multiple 100Gbps cards. Der8auer demonstrated ~28GB/s on a RAID0 using Threadripper 1st gen (~224Gbps) and was only limited by the RAID driver thread saturating a CPU core.. further scaling is possible using the inbox NVMe driver (up to endpoint/bus saturation). Are these realistic workloads? No. Is it possible? No problem.
I looked up the user manual and yes, it's keyed so that both a normal 3-pin and 4-pin fan will work with the 6-pin motherboard connector without an adapter. It appears that the extra two pins are used for a temperature sensor that's built into the fan. Per the manual, pin 5 is labeled "Sensor" and pin 6 is labeled "NC", and the custom fan speed has an option called "Smart Fan Temp Control" where you can have it increase a specific fan speed based on the temperature the fan is reporting.
I was originally going to say "WTF are they thinking releasing such a high end AMD board in 2020 that doesn't support PCIe 4.0 when the appropriate CPU is installed. What a waste." But then I realized this board is about a year old already. As others mentioned below, the ROMED8-2T is almost the replacement for this year old board being reviewed. The biggest thing missing from that one is the x16 slots. And for whatever reason they didn't leave the x8 slots open ended to allow for x16 cards to fit.
This motherboard is a cheap EPYC *server* mboard, and that is all it is...;) Keyword being "cheap"--paring down the system bus to PCIe3.x cuts the system bandwidth in half, compared with 4.0, which translates to manufacturing a lower-cost mboard relative to the layers needed to properly support the signal integrity of a PCIe4.0 system bus. A PCIe3.x system bus also requires less power than PCIex4. It's easy to forget, I suppose, that PCIe4 is *double* the bandwidth of PCIe3. But as a cheap server mboard, PCIe4 may not be a better fit than PCIe3.x.
This "review" is a bit strange, imo...;) Not only does it directly compare different mboards, but it also compares those mboards running different CPUs, as well, as if to illustrate some obscure point. I would have done things a bit differently, like, for instance, restricting my choice of motherboards to those server boards capable of running this CPU--and *actually running* the EPYC CPU featured here...;) Maybe throw in a couple of system bandwidth tests and applications to illustrate advantages of the increased bandwidth PCIe4x brings to the table, along with extra costs, etc. Otherwise, what one winds up comparing are CPUs instead of motherboards, imo. As server mboards go, this one is not "high end" at all--it's actually a "budget" server mboard, imo--hence the compromises with system bus bandwidth, etc. Simply put, this mboard was not designed to "compete" with "enthusiast-class" retail mboards used for gaming--as should be obvious. People looking for budget-class server motherboards for EPYC-class cpus won't care about PCIe4, the "colors" used, RGB, multi-GPUs, etc. Those things add to cost and energy consumption, and, of course, superficial color schemes/RGB offer no power efficiency or performance enhancements of any kind.
Checking if this board supports bifurcation? The screenshot in https://www.anandtech.com/Gallery/Album/7564#7 shows a setting for the Link Width, but doesn't show the options. And even ASRock's manual only says "This allows you to select PCIE1 Link Width. The default value is [x16]"
Maybe I overlooked it, but isn't this board intended for servers? If so, why not show some server-centric benchmarks? Wouldn't that be closer to the intended use case? I know that many "server" MBs are also used for workstations, but something intended for racks is less likely to end up in a workstation.
This card have most of the things i need for my home studio (music produktion) But is it possible to install Thunderbolt in some way? (thunderbolt and usb are the standards in the music industry at least the studio sound cards)
another question about the latency, is it low compaired with Intels mobo also, or is it only low compaired with other AMD cards. Is it the latency with the processor, or only the motherboard? the old rule was to use a intel motherboard for music-produktion. Was something with the AMD processors but that was then, now it ´s new times,
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romrunning - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Would it be possible to get a review of more recent AMD server boards from ASRockRack, like the ROMED8HM3 (SP3 socket, supports EPYC Rome, has many PCIe 4.0 slots)?Slash3 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
The ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T is a similarly near perfect board for the current Epyc CPUs; I'd love to see some reviews once it hits retail channels (within a few weeks, hopefully).https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.a...
cygnus1 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I plan to build a new home server before the end of the year so I went and checked that one out. I do want it to be AMD, and not really caring if it's Epyc or Ryzen, just need to find a good board with IPMI like these AsrockRack ones. The only problem I see for me with the ROMED8-2T is no x16 slots and the x8 slots are all closed ended for some reason, so you can't even put an x16 card in them.brucethemoose - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
All 7 slots on the ROMED8-2T are x16.https://www.asrockrack.com/photo/ROMED8-2T-1(M).jp...
Foeketijn - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link
Not sure what the requirements are, but I can endorse the Asrockrack X470 boards. Ryzens Zen2 and the x470 make a really efficient powerhouse (just 100 Watts for a 8 core in a noisy but cool 1u server doing stress testing)romrunning - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Or the ROMED8-2T or ROMED8QM-2T? Really, I guess any of the newer "ROME" models that ASRockRack has listed. These newer boards would be more relevant than the older EPYCD8-2T, of which the ROMED8-2T seems like it's the direct successor.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link
Yes, please review Epyc boards with PCIe 4. There are several in this price range that have it, so it's not really beneficial to look at boards of the same cost that have half the IO bandwidth.Tyan's S8030GM4NE-2T has five x16 4.0 slots and the two 10gb Ethernet ports. I'd love to know if that board was any good.
shabby - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Only two 10g ports? Come on where are my 100g ports...vladpetric - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
100g is not something that a CPU-based system can saturate. High end switches, aggregating traffic from multiple end points - sure. Software running on a CPU - no.eastcoast_pete - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I don't think that question was asked in earnest. However, if it was, I agree with you.SampsonJackson - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
That is absolutely incorrect. We do it with Infiniband cards via RDMA and easily saturate multiple 100Gbps cards. Der8auer demonstrated ~28GB/s on a RAID0 using Threadripper 1st gen (~224Gbps) and was only limited by the RAID driver thread saturating a CPU core.. further scaling is possible using the inbox NVMe driver (up to endpoint/bus saturation). Are these realistic workloads? No. Is it possible? No problem.vFunct - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
CPUs on media servers have been saturating 100G for years now. Netflix is doing that, for example. https://netflixtechblog.com/serving-100-gbps-from-...vFunct - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
And they're delivering 200gbps now: https://wccftech.com/netflix-evaluating-replacing-...brunis.dk - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I think ASSRock should just rename themselves to ASRack for simplicity.kobblestown - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
What's with the 6-pin fan connectors? Can I plug a regular 4-pin PWM fan into it?dotes12 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I looked up the user manual and yes, it's keyed so that both a normal 3-pin and 4-pin fan will work with the 6-pin motherboard connector without an adapter. It appears that the extra two pins are used for a temperature sensor that's built into the fan. Per the manual, pin 5 is labeled "Sensor" and pin 6 is labeled "NC", and the custom fan speed has an option called "Smart Fan Temp Control" where you can have it increase a specific fan speed based on the temperature the fan is reporting.kobblestown - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Oh, that's cool. Thanks for checking it out.cygnus1 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I was originally going to say "WTF are they thinking releasing such a high end AMD board in 2020 that doesn't support PCIe 4.0 when the appropriate CPU is installed. What a waste." But then I realized this board is about a year old already. As others mentioned below, the ROMED8-2T is almost the replacement for this year old board being reviewed. The biggest thing missing from that one is the x16 slots. And for whatever reason they didn't leave the x8 slots open ended to allow for x16 cards to fit.WaltC - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
This motherboard is a cheap EPYC *server* mboard, and that is all it is...;) Keyword being "cheap"--paring down the system bus to PCIe3.x cuts the system bandwidth in half, compared with 4.0, which translates to manufacturing a lower-cost mboard relative to the layers needed to properly support the signal integrity of a PCIe4.0 system bus. A PCIe3.x system bus also requires less power than PCIex4. It's easy to forget, I suppose, that PCIe4 is *double* the bandwidth of PCIe3. But as a cheap server mboard, PCIe4 may not be a better fit than PCIe3.x.This "review" is a bit strange, imo...;) Not only does it directly compare different mboards, but it also compares those mboards running different CPUs, as well, as if to illustrate some obscure point. I would have done things a bit differently, like, for instance, restricting my choice of motherboards to those server boards capable of running this CPU--and *actually running* the EPYC CPU featured here...;) Maybe throw in a couple of system bandwidth tests and applications to illustrate advantages of the increased bandwidth PCIe4x brings to the table, along with extra costs, etc. Otherwise, what one winds up comparing are CPUs instead of motherboards, imo. As server mboards go, this one is not "high end" at all--it's actually a "budget" server mboard, imo--hence the compromises with system bus bandwidth, etc. Simply put, this mboard was not designed to "compete" with "enthusiast-class" retail mboards used for gaming--as should be obvious. People looking for budget-class server motherboards for EPYC-class cpus won't care about PCIe4, the "colors" used, RGB, multi-GPUs, etc. Those things add to cost and energy consumption, and, of course, superficial color schemes/RGB offer no power efficiency or performance enhancements of any kind.
mjz_5 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I hope it’s running the enterprise version of Windows 10 because that has better performance for high core count computers.Hul8 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Only a subset of reviewers found that that was the case. Some had the exact same results as long as they were running at least Windows 10 Pro.It may have more to do with running a later major version (like 1903 or 1909) than Pro versus Enterprise.
Hul8 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Also, AMD explicitly stated that Pro and Enterprise are equivalent for performance, and they should know.Hul8 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
I think you're missing "/x16" at the end of "x16/x8/x16/x8/x16/x8". This listed litany only has 6 slots for a total of 72 lanes.MenhirMike - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Checking if this board supports bifurcation? The screenshot in https://www.anandtech.com/Gallery/Album/7564#7 shows a setting for the Link Width, but doesn't show the options. And even ASRock's manual only says "This allows you to select PCIE1 Link Width. The default value is [x16]"eastcoast_pete - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
Maybe I overlooked it, but isn't this board intended for servers? If so, why not show some server-centric benchmarks? Wouldn't that be closer to the intended use case? I know that many "server" MBs are also used for workstations, but something intended for racks is less likely to end up in a workstation.AndrewJacksonZA - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link
That's quite the bent pin in Front Fan 4. What happened?dwade123 - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link
Junkarneberg - Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - link
This card have most of the things i need for my home studio (music produktion)But is it possible to install Thunderbolt in some way?
(thunderbolt and usb are the standards in the music industry at least the studio sound cards)
enzobozo - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.a...thunderbolt is ready to plug in that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q95RlXh9BPA
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/QIG/ROMED8-2T.p...
https://download.asrock.com/Manual/ROMED8-2T.pdf
arneberg - Wednesday, April 22, 2020 - link
another question about the latency, is it low compaired with Intels mobo also, or is it only low compaired with other AMD cards.Is it the latency with the processor, or only the motherboard? the old rule was to use a intel motherboard for music-produktion. Was something with the AMD processors but that was then, now it ´s new times,
sftech - Sunday, April 26, 2020 - link
Could you please add a photo of the underside of the board?Nahid070 - Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - link
We some of ryzen 3100 and 3300x paired with budget graphics cardsPyxar - Wednesday, December 23, 2020 - link
Given the offset from the back of the card slot area, I wonder if that is going to fit normal cases or need a special case?