This week as part of the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable (codenamed “Sapphire Rapids”) launch, Supermicro unveiled its X13 generation. While we saw some other major OEMs launch four models or so, Supermicro launched an entire stack with 15 new server families. This launch was also a bit different for STH.
Massive Supermicro X13 Generation for 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable Launched
Supermicro actually flew STH out to provide an overview of the new platforms for its launch. Since it was all going on Supermicro’s channels, not STH’s, this was a sponsored project. That included four short videos (3-5 min) that are on the Supermicro YouTube channel. The first one was focused on a rapid overview of the major new product lines. That included multiple accelerated servers with GPUs, high-density servers such as SuperBlade, BigTwin, GrandTwin, and more, the company’s flagship Ultra servers, storage servers, edge servers, and even the 8-socket systems.
We did a few deep dives, which included a few topics like accelerated computing, where I was able to look at new systems spanning PCIe, OAM, and SXM servers as well as edge servers.
If you look near the end of that video, you are going to see something extremely exciting. This is Supermicro’s dual-socket liquid-cooled workstation designed to house four liquid-cooled GPUs as well. It has a giant front radiator that keeps the system cool, albeit it uses a ton of power.
A fun story on that one is that Supermicro gave me the system to drive over to their manufacturing facility. Once it was loaded in the rental car (without a box), they told me it was the only one that had been produced up to that point. It was a scary drive over to the old San Jose Mercury News campus with a one-of-a-kind system! That one is going to be awesome for all of the startups we have seen that have GPU servers in offices. It will certainly save some ears.
We shot the videos in the Supermicro factory in San Jose, California. Part of what Supermicro is pushing in this generation is the idea of fully-integrated racks.
Something fun while I was there was the backdrop. We had to cover the logos of all the racks being burned in behind what we were using as a set (a small area in a giant manufacturing floor.) That burn-in room has a capacity of up to 1.5MW and was just one that was on the factory floor.
The last time I was in that facility was actually when we did the Supermicro MicroBlade System Review back in 2016. It was amazing to see how much that has built up since then.
Final Words
Hopefully, STH folks will like the short videos on the X13 series. Supermicro let us shoot and edit the videos how we wanted, save we had to put branding/ logos in there since it was on its channel. It was certainly fun to do. If you want to see STH on the Supermicro X13 page, you can head here and also see their new models. There is one more video I shot at Intel’s headquarters for the 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable launch, but we will save that for another day since that was a slightly different but fun topic.
If you want to learn more about the new 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable launch, you can check out the STH launch coverage and our much longer, in-depth video here:
This was a fun project, especially since I had to condense a massive Supermicro X13 portfolio into 3-5 minutes.
I saw these yesterday. They’re fun.
Also a workstation motherboards for these CPUs: the X13DAI-T. Looks pretty dank although I would hope for a future 1S model. With the 5420+ or some of the other 44xx/54xx SKUs could be a legit workstation. Looking forward to integrated solutions that include these.
The only barebones is a 2U with no nvme except 2xm.2 and only 8x 3.5″ bays.
I also remember many times where I have had to transport a server in a car and the server was way more valuable than the car itself
I still have the complete memory/cpu unit of an 8-way dl760 g2, with memory raid – 16gb of 20gb ram usable and eight 3ghz 4mb l3-cache “gallatin” cpu’s…
Despite this, it ran never stable (power issues) with prime95, even though it had two 1150watt power supplies, but was nice in cold winter times…
Very interesting. Thanks STH.
About six months ago, while i was trying to order a chassis and motherboard, Supermicro said they were no longer taking orders for barebones systems out just a chassis or motherboard by themselves. You had to order with a CPU and RAM at minimum. I wonder if that’s still true.
Benny
“I wonder if that’s still true.”
Yes it is – was also true of the Ice Lake SP systems from Supermicro – was not the case during Xeon Scalable Gen 1 – I bought barebones systems and bought the RAM and the CPUs separately.