Supermicro Storage SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90

Description

This system is built for Telco and cloud service providers, content repositories, data lake, and more but is also an excellent choice for government data protection, financial services, healthcare image archives, high-performance computing, AI, and more. At 4U, the Supermicro Storage SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90 can house 90x SFF or LFF drives. The X12 motherboard supports dual Intel Xeon Scalable processors from the 3rd generation, each with up to 36 cores. Although the system supports SATA/SAS drives by default, there are 4x dedicated U.2 hot-swap NVMe drive bays on the back of the chassis.

Performance

The Storage SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90 system features dual Intel Xeon Scalable processors from the 3rd generation, offering up to 36 physical cores and 72 virtual threads each, plus up to 54MB of cache. The CPUs support 8x memory channels for a total of 16x DIMMs between both processors. The thermal design point (TDP) of each processor ranges between 120W to 250W. Six heavy duty 8cm fans provide cooling and can be swapped out without shutting down the system. The system is powered by 2600W redundant power supplies with PMBus.

Memory

Up to 4TB of 3DS LRDIMM or RDIMM DDR4 ECC memory with speeds of up to 3200MHz can be reached when all 16x memory slots are populated. The Supermicro SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90 also supports Intel Optane Persistent Memory (PMem) 200 series memory modules, but only with 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors from the Platinum, Gold, and some Silver level CPUs.

Storage

Housed in a pull-out drawer on the Supermicro Storage SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90, the 90x drive bays support 3.5” or 2.5” form factors, which can be loaded through the top of the server. The platform includes 3x expander modules installed in the second, fourth, and sixth drive bay rows. The first, third, and fifth drive bay rows have their mid-row gap filled by non-functional (dummy) fillers. While the server supports SATA and SAS drive by default, it also offers 2x fixed slim SATA SSD slots and 4x hot-swap NVMe U.2 bays on the back panel for cache support. In addition to these storage options, the system delivers 2x PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 slots, which support M-Key 2280 and 22110.

Expansion

The 4U 640SP-E1CR90 server delivers up to 3x PCIe 4.0 x16 low-profile slots. These slots can be accessed through the rear of the chassis and can be used for HBA storage controllers and for alternate network controllers.

Management

There are several management programs to control the Supermicro 640SP-E1CR90 in case the hardware fails. The Supermicro SuperDoctor 5 (SD5) is a web-based program that is able to monitor the server’s CPU temperature, power consumption, fan speed, and more. An alert can be sent to administrators via email or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) if the server experiences problems. The motherboard also supports the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) to provide remote access to the server. In addition to this, for NVMe SSDs that are directly connected to Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (Intel VROC) provides an enterprise RAID solution called. An embedded controller called Intel Volume Management Device (VMD) is located inside the CPU PCIe root complex.

Summary

Featuring 90x 3.5” SATA/ SAS drive bays, the Supermicro Storage SuperServer 640SP-E1CR90 can provide incredible performance with dual 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors installed. The system can handle storage workloads for government data protection, financial services, healthcare image archives, and more with the updated hardware. PCIe 4.0 slots provide options for expansion, and the system is compatible with Intel Optane Persistent Memory offering data resiliency and speed.