Individuals ought to be exceedingly enthusiastic about this motherboard. At ISC 2023 we noticed the ASRock Rack ALTRAD8U-1L2T. This can be a mATX platform (effectively 9.6″ x 10.5″) with a socket LGA4926. Meaning 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
In case you are an Arm developer, the subsequent picture may simply be nirvana. We now have been ready for a platform like this for years. That is an Ampere Altra Max mATX arm server motherboard.
Right here is the CPU socket the place one can use Ampere Altra Max processors. That is the primary 128 core mATX-ish platform that we’re conscious of. Since that is an older technology of processors with AmpereOne coming to co-exist above the Altra Max, it nonetheless makes use of DDR4-3200 and is just eight reminiscence channels which means it matches considerably in mATX dimensions.
To the correct of the socket, we see SlimSAS connectors for added PCIe connectivity through cabling.
With regards to PCIe connectivity, now we have 4x PCIe Gen4 x16 slots, so there may be fairly a bit right here.
We additionally see the ASPEED AST2600 BMC subsequent to the slots.
For boot units, there are two M.2 slots onboard.
The highest left nook is unusually attention-grabbing. There’s a huge heatsink for the Intel X550 10Gbase-T controller in addition to two Oculink ports for extra connectivity.
Right here is the spec sheet for the motherboard:
There’s a lot there.
Last Phrases
Put this very excessive on the listing of server motherboards we hope to evaluation at some point. One of many huge challenges may also be heatsinks because the ecosystem round these isn’t monumental. Nonetheless we might like to have certainly one of these within the lab since it will imply a 128-core compact mATX platform. We now have been ready for a standards-compliant NUC-like field for years. Now now we have possibly one thing not as small, however an affordable measurement that one can use affordable instances for. That is going to be a giant product for the Arm growth group.
Whereas we noticed this at ISC earlier within the week, hopefully we get a delivery timeline replace at Computex.
