Gigabyte G291-281 GPU Server

Description

Outfitted with up to 8x GPUs or computational accelerator cards, the Gigabyte G291-281 GPU server delivers exceptional performance for analytics programs in scientific simulation and modeling plus engineering, visualization and rendering, data mining and more. Two Intel Xeon Scalable processors support up to 3TB of memory from 24 DDR4 DIMM slots in a 2U chassis. Power is provided by dual 2000W 80 PLUS Titanium PSUs.

Other Gigabyte G291 Series GPU Servers

Gigabyte G291-2G0 GPU Server
Dual 1st or 2nd gen. Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, 24x DDR4 DIMM, 16x Tesla T4 GPUs

Gigabyte G291-2G0 GPU Server
Dual 1st or 2nd gen. Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, 24x DDR4 DIMM, 16x Tesla T4 GPUs

Gigabyte G291-Z20 GPU Server
Single AMD EPYC 7001/7002 CPU, 8x DIMM slots, 8x GPUs

Gigabyte G291-280 GPU Server
Dual 1st or 2nd gen. Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, 24x DDR4 DIMM, 8x GPUs

Performance

Intel Xeon Scalable processors from the 1st and 2nd generation, Skylake and Cascade Lake respectively, have the same socket design and only support a maximum of 28 physical cores and 58 virtual threads, plus only PCIe 3.0. Both are supported on this platform but cannot be mixed. 1st or 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors are limited to a configurable thermal design point (cTDP) of up to 205W. The G291-281 will support CPUs with up to 28 physical cores and 56 virtual threads for a total core count of up to 56 physical cores with both processors installed.

Memory

Each processor supports 6x memory channels and 12x memory module sockets, for a total of 24 active memory module slots in a dual-processor configuration. Memory speeds of 2933/2666/2400/2133 MHz are supported depending on choice of processor, memory module, and configuration, which can all have an impact on memory speed with the system defaulting to the slowest speed. Registered (RDIMM) memory modules will support DDR4 modules with a maximum capacity of up to 64GB, while load reduced (LRDIMM) memory modules are supported in capacities up to 128GB for a total of up to 3TB of memory. Data centric persistent memory modules (DCPMM), or Intel Optane, memory modules are also supported in capacities up to 128GB in 6x memory modules slots but only using 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Optane modules can be recognized by the system as either memory or storage offering persistence and data resiliency.

Storage

8x external storage bays line the front of the system. There are also two more internal storage bays for 7mm SSDs that are placed on either side of the front drive cage. All drive bays are compatible with hot swap SATA natively at 6Gb/s. Hot swap SAS HDDs or SSDs are also supported with a discrete SAS HD/RAID controller offering data transfer speeds of up to 12Gb/s.

Expansion

All supported expansion slots on this system are PCIe 3.0. In addition to the 4x GPU cages to either side of the motherboard that will support two double slot GPU accelerator cards each, there are two low-profile, half-length slots at the back of the system to support optional cards such as high-performance I/O or a SAS HD/RAID controller. 2x SATA III disk on module (DOM) drives are supported too, offering support for the OS without sacrificing up front storage. Along with a dedicated RJ45 management port on the back of the system, there are 2x integrated 10G BASE-T LAN ports for network connectivity.

Management

The management port on the back of the system provides access to the Aspeed AST2500 baseboard management controller (BMC) for a chassis and remote management of the system. In addition, the Gigabyte Management Console utilizes the AMI MegaRAC SP-X for BMC providing a browser-based user interface to monitor system health and is used for single systems. For multiple server support, there is the Gigabyte Server Management (GSM) another of Gigabytes proprietary software suites, available free of charge. GSM also helps to manage the hardware through a standard browser interface and is compatible with the integrated platform management interface 2.0 (IPMI 2.0) protocols and Redfish connection interfaces.

Summary

Designed for a myriad of high-performance computing applications, the Gigabyte G291-281 GPU server delivers powerful performance with dual Intel Xeon Scalable processors, plus up to 8x full-height, full-width GPU accelerators and up to 3TB of memory in a 2U chassis. This system can be applied to AI, AI training, AI inference, deep learning, plus applications for scientific and financial modeling and simulation.