Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT Review Dual AMD EPYC 4U Tower Server

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At STH, we have the most comprehensive resources in terms of available AMD EPYC CPUs, we are sharing data points from 8, 16, 24, and 32 core AMD EPYC 7000 series dual socket configurations to give some relative sense of performance.

Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT Performance

As mentioned earlier in this article, we swapped sample pairs of processors from throughout the AMD EPYC 7000 range. AMD has many SKUs in their range capable of dual socket operation, so we picked a few samples to show how incrementing CPU levels impact performance. Running through our standard test suite generated over 1000 data points for each set of CPUs. We are cherry picking a few data points to give some sense of CPU scaling with each solution.

Python Linux 4.4.2 Kernel Compile Benchmark

This is one of the most requested benchmarks for STH over the past few years. The task was simple, we have a standard configuration file, the Linux 4.4.2 kernel from kernel.org, and make the standard auto-generated configuration utilizing every thread in the system. We are expressing results in terms of compiles per hour to make the results easier to read.

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core Linux Kernel Compile Benchmarks
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core Linux Kernel Compile Benchmarks

This chart shows both the top-end SKU option at over $4000 per chip as well as the lowest end solution at under $500 per chip. AMD has a broad range of performance they are covering with the different SKUs.

c-ray 1.1 Performance

We have been using c-ray for our performance testing for years now. It is a ray tracing benchmark that is extremely popular to show differences in processors under multi-threaded workloads. We are going to use our new Linux-Bench2 8K render to show differences.

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core C Ray 8K Benchmarks
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core c-ray 8K Benchmarks

If you read our Dual AMD EPYC 7251 Linux Benchmarks Least Expensive 2P EPYC review, this chart illustrates why we generally advise getting at least 16 core AMD EPYC parts in dual socket systems.

7-zip Compression Performance

7-zip is a widely used compression/ decompression program that works cross-platform. We started using the program during our early days with Windows testing. It is now part of Linux-Bench.

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core 7 Zip Compression Benchmark
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core 7 Zip Compression Benchmark

Here performance across the board is strong. AMD architectures get more decompression MIPS in this test than compression MIPS while Intel Xeon Scalable (Skylake-SP) generally shows the opposite pattern.

OpenSSL Performance

OpenSSL is widely used to secure communications between servers. This is an important protocol in many server stacks. We first look at our sign tests:

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core OpenSSL Sign Benchmark
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core OpenSSL Sign Benchmark

Here are the verify results:

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core OpenSSL Verify Benchmark
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Core OpenSSL Verify Benchmark

Again, looking at a total cost for the system, we think that starting at 16 or 24 cores for a dual AMD EPYC server like this is the best course of action.

Chess Benchmarking

Chess is an interesting use case since it has almost unlimited complexity. Over the years, we have received a number of requests to bring back chess benchmarking. We have been profiling systems and are ready to start sharing results:

Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Chess Benchmark
Dual AMD EPYC 8 16 24 32 Chess Benchmark

AMD offers one SKU, the AMD EPYC 7351 between the EPYC 7301 and EPYC 7401 but there are three SKUs between the EPYC 7401 and EPYC 7601. These three SKUs are the EPYC 7451, EPYC 7501 and EPYC 7551. That gives a lot of customization options beyond what we are showing here, but they generally follow the trends we have shown.

Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT Power Consumption

Although the dual AMD EPYC designs can offer a lot of performance, they do so while surprisingly sipping power. We swapped the system into rackmount mode and put it in our data center using 208V 30A Schneider Electric APC PDUs. Using the dual AMD EPYC 7601 chips we saw solid figures:

  • Idle: 112W
  • STH 70% Load: 381W
  • 100% Load AVX2 (GROMACS): 478W
  • Maximum: 491W

That was a solid showing and lower than we would expect competitive Intel parts to be (such as the Intel Xeon Gold 6152.) Despite this power consumption, we were able to get this system to over 60dba which is too loud to be placed in office workspace, but it is acceptable for most server cabinets in branch offices.

Note these results were taken using a 208V Schneider Electric / APC PDU at 17.8C and 71% RH. Our testing window shown here had a +/- 0.3C and +/- 2% RH variance. The figures are certainly more than the Intel Xeon Silver line, but with that extra power consumption, AMD is delivering a more expandable platform and more performance.

Final Words

If you are looking for a larger size 4U or tower AMD EPYC 7000 series dual socket server this is one of the only options out there. For AMD, the Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT is an important machine. Virtually the entire AMD EPYC 7000 ecosystem is focused on the rackmount form factor. This is one of the only options for those looking at a pedestal/ tower form factor. One may look at pictures of the system and think that this is a workstation chassis. Despite the use of -SQ “Super Quiet” power supplies, it is too loud to use as a workstation in its current form. We think that there is an opportunity for Supermicro to change the fan curves and make this into a viable workstation platform or workgroup server that can be placed under a desk.

As a pure server, the Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT server is an excellent option. Its versatility means that the server can be deployed into a range of environments. For those building branch office, AMD EPYC 7000 series appliances the system has more RAM capacity than Intel solutions, more cores than Intel solutions, and the versatility to deploy into tower or rackmount orientations.

Here is a link to the product page.

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REVIEW OVERVIEW
Design & Aesthetics
9.3
Performance
9.5
Feature Set
9.4
Value
9.7
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Patrick has been running STH since 2009 and covers a wide variety of SME, SMB, and SOHO IT topics. Patrick is a consultant in the technology industry and has worked with numerous large hardware and storage vendors in the Silicon Valley. The goal of STH is simply to help users find some information about server, storage and networking, building blocks. If you have any helpful information please feel free to post on the forums.
supermicro-as-4023s-trt-review-dual-amd-epyc-4u-tower-serverThe Supermicro AS-4023S-TRT is a versatile 10Gbase-T server platform that has the capacity for up to two AMD EPYC CPUs, 2TB of RAM, 8x hot-swap SATA drives (with more expansion possible), m.2 PCIe devices, dual SATADOMs, up to two double-width GPUs and additional PCIe add-on cards/ NVMe drives. The system is easy to service in either tower or rackmount mode with hot-swap power supplies and fans. We wish Supermicro would include dual U.2 NVMe hot swap via Oculink and adjust fan profiles to lower noise.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Great review STH. Really in-depth. This looks like a great machine but I wish it had the extra NVMe hot swap like you mentioned and support for 3 GPUs. I don’t really think 10g networking is getting adopted much in the DC but in offices I’m seeing it more often these days because you don’t have to redo wiring

  2. Two AMD EPYC cpus can support 4 TB of RAM, which is incredibly powerful and unique, what happen to that. Is this system limited to only 2 TB of RAM.. even though it has a dual socket/cpu configuration..?

  3. Hey! Nice review! Small typo:

    Power is provided via redundant 1280W 80Plus Platinum-level CPUs which provides both power efficiency as well as redundancy.

    I don’t think the CPU’s are powered by CPU’s 😉

  4. Key Features

    • Cloud Computing
    • Data Center
    • General purpose, SMB, Web Hosting

    They forgot Gaming Desktop.

  5. Churchill they also forgot NAS and router. SM’s version of every box is good for everything let’s pile on.

  6. Interesting fact is that dual 7301 is at least in linux compile benchmark on the level of recently tested/reviewed X11SDV with D-2183. So man really need to decide if he needs 2 TB of RAM and if not, then they are smaller less noisy alternatives. Also it looks like for this box putting there 7301 is not the best option and if man sattles on dual CPU box, then the CPUs employed should be power-full enough not to be over played by single-CPU alternatives…

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