Supermicro BigTwin SYS-2029BZ-HNR Power Consumption to Baseline
One of the other, sometimes overlooked, benefits of the 2U4N form factor is power consumption savings. We ran our standard STH 80% CPU utilization workload, which is a common figure for a well-utilized virtualization server, and ran that in the sandwich between the 1U servers and the Supermicro BigTwin SYS-2029BZ-HNR. With dense servers, heat is a concern, so we replicate what one would likely see in the field. This is the only way to get useful comparison information for 2U4N servers.
![STH 2U 4 Node Power Comparison Test Setup](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/STH-2U-4-node-Power-Comparison-Test-Setup-800x545.png)
Here is what we saw in terms of performance compared to our baseline nodes (that have been upgraded to Intel Xeon Scalable nodes since our original Supermicro BigTwin NVMe Review.
![Supermicro BigTwin SYS 2029BZ HNR Power Consumption To Baseline](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Supermicro-BigTwin-SYS-2029BZ-HNR-Power-Consumption-to-Baseline.jpg)
As you can see, we are not getting the same shared cooling benefit that we see in other Supermicro 2U4N platforms. This is a tradeoff for having independent nodes with their own fans and the ability to cool very high-end setups.
![Supermicro BigTwin SYS 2029BZ HNR 2.6kW PSUs](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Supermicro-BigTwin-SYS-2029BZ-HNR-2.6kW-PSUs.jpg)
A quick note here, our Supermicro BigTwin SYS-2029BZ-HNR review unit came with two 2.6kW power supplies. One of Supermicro’s innovations with the BigTwin is the family’s high-power, long, and narrow PSUs. In our testing, under load with 224 cores, one will want the 2.6kW redundant power supplies.
STH Server Spider:Â Supermicro BigTwin SYS-2029BZ-HNR
In the second half of 2018, we introduced the STH Server Spider as a quick reference to where a server system’s aptitude lies. Our goal is to start giving a quick visual depiction of the types of parameters that a server is targeted at.
![STH Server Spider Supermicro BigTwin SYS 2029BZ HNR](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/STH-Server-Spider-Supermicro-BigTwin-SYS-2029BZ-HNR.jpg)
This is a server with a mission. Put eight CPUs, 96 DIMMs, 24 NVMe SSDs, eight boot SSDs, four networking modules and up to eight other PCIe cards into a 2U form factor. The density here is significant, but it is not designed to match a 90+ 3.5″ bay 4U server in terms of raw capacity.
Final Words
Overall the Supermicro BigTwin SYS-2029BZ-HNR is very impressive. It is a server built for the high-end hyper-converged infrastructure market and sits above the company’s other 2U4N solutions and virtually every other 2U4N server on the market. That is a big deal. Supermicro made the tough trade-offs to deliver features like 12 DIMMs per socket, 205W 28 core CPU support, 3 UPI links, and 24x NVMe SSDs plus multiple add-in cards. The end result is something that can give users twice the density as 1U servers.
That is amazing what they can fit into a 2U. Especially considering dual sockets and 24 DIMMS per node. My 4U chassis with SM X11-DPI has two sockets and 16 DIMMS total (and only 12 of those 16 are usable if I want to have 6 channel). Quite amazing. But I’m homelab, so this is way out of my league. Cool though
This is amazing dual socket processor 4 node in 2U rack form factor server. Price very competitive with a giant brand.
My concern only at after sales support. Once they have it. They will be a leader for this region.