People should be exceedingly excited about this motherboard. At ISC 2023 we saw the ASRock Rack ALTRAD8U-1L2T. This is a mATX platform (well 9.6″ x 10.5″) with a socket LGA4926. That 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
If you are an Arm developer, the next photo might just be nirvana. We have been waiting for a platform like this for years. This is an Ampere Altra Max mATX arm server motherboard.
Here is the CPU socket where one can use Ampere Altra Max processors. This is the first 128 core mATX-ish platform that we are aware of. Since this is an older generation of processors with AmpereOne coming to co-exist above the Altra Max, it still uses DDR4-3200 and is only eight memory channels meaning it fits somewhat in mATX dimensions.
To the right of the socket, we see SlimSAS connectors for additional PCIe connectivity via cabling.
On the subject of PCIe connectivity, we have 4x PCIe Gen4 x16 slots, so there is quite a bit here.
We also see the ASPEED AST2500 BMC next to the slots.
For boot devices, there are two M.2 slots onboard.
The top left corner is unusually interesting. There is a big heatsink for the Intel X550 10Gbase-T controller as well as two Oculink ports for more connectivity.
Here is the spec sheet for the motherboard:
There is a lot there.
Final Words
Put this very high on the list of server motherboards we hope to review one day. One of the big challenges will also be heatsinks as the ecosystem around those is not enormous. Still we would love to have one of these in the lab since it would mean a 128-core compact mATX platform. We have been waiting for a standards-compliant NUC-like box for years. Now we have maybe something not as small, but a reasonable size that one can use reasonable cases for. This is going to be a big product for the Arm development community.
While we saw this at ISC earlier in the week, hopefully we get a shipping timeline update at Computex.
why do they still use vga? why not hdmi?
@erik I assume because many data centres already have KVM-over-IP hardware in place that can only handle VGA. Nobody wants to be the first to switch away from VGA as they risk getting overlooked until everyone’s KVM infrastructure gets upgraded. Also, using HDMI requires paying a licence fee so it would be more hassle to implement for (at this point) little gain, since all modern servers still have VGA and few if any have HDMI or DVI.
@erik The primary reason is that most BMCs — like the AST2500 mainstay here — include an integrated VGA output. Further, as @Malvineous mentions, the standard rack KVM input is VGA, presumably not only for legacy and cost, but simplicity of design as well.
@erik VGA: As someone that spent 2012 – 2021 based full-time in a data center, all VGA (until the last couple years in said position) made it a bit easier on crash cart cabling…And a bit related: Always on the lookout for small (17″ ish) monitors for my crash carts given the tightness of my hot isles when rack doors were open. Old-ish monitors would usually support VGA.
Is any mainboard like this for single Intel or AMD too? I wonder Ampere Altra can install WIndows Server or Porxmox for Virtualization…
@Carl highly recommend scouring classifieds sites for Point-of-Sale (POS) systems as they almost always come with small monitors that have VGA inputs and often an additional bonus of being touch enabled. In a perfect world you want to have something made by ELO.
So we have motherboards, now we only need the actual CPUs available in retail channels.
I doubt this board will go retail. Like Gigabyte and Marvell with the ThunderX, it will be limited to the integrator market where the volumes support the model. Ampere is in no way interested to get into the retail markets and will stick to the OEM’s (like they did with Lenovo).
If you get a review sample, great (Ampere is pretty good about that) but I doubt you will see this board in the channel. It will be available through some integrator that specializes in engineering or HPC clients.
I have been heavily campaigning for this to go retail at Computex.
I hope it goes retail or at least channel. This is maybe the first “normal” mainboard for ARM I’ve seen. ARM is real in the hyperscalar datacenters where bespoke form factors are acceptable, the rest of the world needs something more standardized.
This board is spec’d perfectly for my needs. You could throw this in SilverStone’s new RM600 case, because very few single-socket (SS) boards can take advantage of its 6U configuration (e.g., 3.5″ 12-bay, 3 GPUs, etc.). My RM400 is max’d out and a SS board like the ALTRAD8u would be perfect (mmm…oculink), especially considering the DAS opportunity with SlimSAS. Thanks for covering this, Patrick!