Supermicro SuperServer 4029GP-TVRT

Description

This particular chassis is significantly different than the other chassis in the 4029GP family of SuperServers. The Supermicro SuperServer 4029GP-TVRT supports Nvidia’s Volta V100 SXM2 form factor GPUs, which benefit from Nvidia’s NVLINK architecture to deliver GPU to CPU data rates of up to 300GB/s compared to using PCIe based GPUs, which offer up to 32GB/s data rates. GPUDirect Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) allows direct peer to peer (P2P) data exchanges between other devices on the network, bypassing the CPU and reducing GPU to GPU latency. It also only supports 16x drives up front compared to 24x on the other systems. This system is only sold in a minimal configuration with 2x CPUs, 4x DIMM modules, and 4x GPUs.

Performance

Like the other chassis configurations in this family it supports dual first- or second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Although, with support for up to 6TB of memory you will need the second-generation processors if you plan to maximize your memory capacity, as first-generation processors will only support 3TB using an “M” suffix processor. Gen2 Intel Xeon Scalable processors with an “L” suffix will support the most memory capacity at up to 4.5TB per CPU. Each processor supports 12 memory channels and memory speeds of up to 2933MT/s with Gen 2 CPUs or a top speed of 2666MT/s using 1st generation CPUs.

Memory

Each processor supports 12x memory module slots for 24x active memory module slots with dual processors. Memory speed is dependent on both the processor and the memory module, defaulting to the slowest performer. Registered (RDIMM), Load-Reduced (LRDIMM), and Intel Optane Data Centric Persistent Memory Modules (DCPMM) are supported on the Supermicro 4029GP-TVRT.

Storage

16x storage bays up front support SAS, SATA and up to 8x NVMe drives using a 12Gb/s hybrid backplane. Two M.2 NVMe based SSDs can be installed directly on the motherboard and can be used to support the OS in mirror mode for redundancy. Up to 8x NVMe drives can be paired with SAS or SATA drives and require one Optilink cable per pair of NVMe drives.

Expansion

The SuperServer 4029GP-TVRT boasts a total of 6 PCIe slots, two of which are on the motherboard and can be used for optional NICs, HD controllers or superfast storage. The other 4x PCIe 3.0 slots are support the 8x SMX2 GPUs supported on the GPU tray. 4x PLX modules act as a gateway directing the PCIe bus linked to the supported GPUs. All expansion cards are x16 low profile.

Management

Supermicro Server Manager (SSM) provides capabilities to monitor the health of sever components including memory, hard drives, and RAID controllers. It allows the administrator to monitor and manage power usage across all Supermicro servers to mitigate the risk of a tripped circuit. This system can also be managed through the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI), Super Doctor5, and Watchdog, among others.

Summary

Optimized for 8x GPUs, this 4U platform leverages the maximum performance of Nvidia technology while incorporating NVLink technology for bandwidth five times that of PCIe 3.0. The Supermicro SuperServer 4029GP-TVRT can also be equipped with up to 6TB of memory among 24x memory module slots for easy multi-tasking while working with big data analytics and high-performance computing.