System Resources
Technical Documentation: Server Configuration Profile – System Resources (SR-2024-Alpha)
This document details the technical specifications, performance characteristics, operational requirements, and use cases for the System Resources server configuration (Model SR-2024-Alpha). This configuration is engineered for high-density computation, massive data throughput, and robust virtualization density.
1. Hardware Specifications
The SR-2024-Alpha platform is built upon a dual-socket, 4U rackmount chassis designed for maximum component density and thermal efficiency. All components are enterprise-grade, validated for 24/7 operation under continuous high-load conditions.
1.1. Central Processing Units (CPUs)
The system utilizes dual Intel Xeon Scalable Processors (4th Generation, codenamed Sapphire Rapids) configured for optimal core-to-cache ratio and high-speed interconnectivity.
| Parameter | Specification (Per Socket) | Total System |
|---|---|---|
| Processor Model | Intel Xeon Platinum 8480+ | Dual Socket (2P) |
| Core Count | 56 Cores | 112 Physical Cores (224 Threads) |
| Base Frequency | 2.3 GHz | 2.3 GHz Base |
| Max Turbo Frequency | Up to 3.8 GHz (Single Core) | Varies based on workload TDP |
| L3 Cache (Smart Cache) | 112 MB | 224 MB Total |
| TDP (Thermal Design Power) | 350 W | 700 W (CPU only) |
| Supported Memory Channels | 8 Channels DDR5 | 16 Channels Total |
| PCIe Lanes (Total Available) | 80 Lanes (PCIe Gen 5.0) | 160 Lanes Total |
Note: The Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (UPI) is configured for a maximum bidirectional throughput of 11.2 GT/s between the two sockets, crucial for NUMA balancing in memory-intensive applications.
1.2. Memory Subsystem (RAM)
The memory configuration prioritizes capacity and bandwidth, utilizing the maximum supported DDR5 ECC RDIMMs to ensure data integrity and low latency.
| Parameter | Specification | Configuration Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Memory Type | DDR5 ECC Registered DIMM (RDIMM) | Supports 3DS LRDIMMs for future expansion |
| Total Installed Capacity | 4 TB (Terabytes) | 32 x 128 GB DIMMs |
| Memory Speed (Effective) | 4800 MT/s (JEDEC Standard) | Achievable at full population |
| Channel Configuration | 16 Channels Populated (8 per CPU) | Ensures full memory bandwidth utilization |
| Memory Topology | Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) | Two distinct memory domains accessible by each CPU |
| Maximum Expandability | 8 TB (via 32 x 256 GB DIMMs) | Requires chassis upgrade to support higher density modules |
The system's Dynamic Memory Tuning (DMT) feature is enabled in the BIOS to optimize timing profiles based on the specific workload demands. Memory Latency is a critical metric for this configuration.
1.3. Storage Architecture
The storage subsystem is architected for extreme Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and low-latency access, leveraging a tiered approach combining NVMe and high-capacity SATA SSDs for archival.
1.3.1. Primary High-Performance Storage (OS/Database)
The primary storage array is based entirely on NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) capable drives connected via dedicated PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes, bypassing traditional RAID controllers where possible for direct access efficiency.
| Drive Type | Quantity | Capacity (Usable RAID 10) | Interface | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVMe U.2 SSD (Enterprise Grade) | 16 Drives | ~40 TB | PCIe Gen 5.0 x4 | Boot, Operating System, Hot Data Sets |
| NVMe AIC (Add-in Card) Accelerator | 2 Cards | 64 TB (Software RAID 0) | PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 slot | High-Throughput Scratch Space/Caching Layer |
Total Primary Storage Throughput: Estimated sustained read/write of 45 GB/s.
1.3.2. Secondary Bulk Storage
For less latency-sensitive data, a traditional 3.5-inch drive bay is utilized, managed by a dedicated hardware RAID controller for data redundancy.
- **Drives:** 12 x 16 TB SAS HDDs (7200 RPM, 512e Sector Size)
- **RAID Controller:** Broadcom MegaRAID 9680-8i (24G SAS/SATA)
- **Configuration:** RAID 6 across all 12 drives, providing N-2 fault tolerance.
- **Usable Capacity:** Approximately 128 TB.
Refer to the Storage Controller Configuration Guide for details on setting the Cache Policy for the hardware RAID card.
1.4. Networking Interface Cards (NICs)
The SR-2024-Alpha supports high-density, high-speed networking essential for distributed computing workloads.
| Port Type | Quantity | Speed | Bus Interface | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethernet (Primary Management/Data) | 2 Ports | 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) | PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 | RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE v2) Support |
| Ethernet (Storage/Out-of-Band Mgmt) | 4 Ports | 25 Gigabit Ethernet (25GbE) | PCIe Gen 4.0 x8 | iSCSI/NFS Offload |
| InfiniBand (Optional Accelerator) | 2 Ports | NDR (400 Gb/s) | PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 | Required for HPC clusters |
The use of RoCE v2 enables Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) capabilities directly to the CPU memory, bypassing the kernel network stack for ultra-low latency communication, critical for distributed shared memory applications.
1.5. Expansion Capabilities (PCIe Slots)
The chassis provides ample expansion slots, all supporting PCIe Gen 5.0 signaling, maximizing future upgrade potential and supporting specialized accelerators.
- **Total Slots:** 8 physical slots (4 full-height/full-length, 4 low-profile/half-length).
- **Available Lanes:** System provides a total of 160 usable PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes distributed across the slots.
- **Max Accelerator Support:** Capable of hosting up to four dual-slot, 350W TDP GPUs (e.g., NVIDIA H100).
Constraints: Slot utilization must adhere to the Power Delivery Limits (Chassis SR-2024) to prevent exceeding the total system PCIe power budget of 1500W.
2. Performance Characteristics
The performance of the SR-2024-Alpha is defined by its massive parallel processing capability, high memory bandwidth, and low-latency storage access.
2.1. Compute Benchmarks
Performance metrics are derived from standardized synthetic and application-specific benchmarks conducted under controlled thermal conditions (ambient 20°C).
2.1.1. Synthetic Benchmarks
| Benchmark Suite | Metric | Result (SR-2024-Alpha) | Comparison (Previous Gen SR-2022) |- | SPECrate® 2017 Integer | Rate Score | 1450 | +38% |- | STREAM Benchmark (Aggregate Memory Bandwidth) | Copy Rate | 1.2 TB/s | +55% |- | Linpack (HPL) | Theoretical Peak FP64 GFLOPS | ~13.5 TFLOPS (CPU Only) | N/A (Depends on AVX-512 utilization) |}
The significant jump in STREAM performance is directly attributable to the move to DDR5 memory operating at 4800 MT/s across 16 channels, overcoming the memory wall bottleneck prevalent in previous generations. CPU Performance Metrics should always account for memory saturation.
2.2. I/O Throughput Analysis
Storage performance is highly dependent on the workload pattern (sequential vs. random).
- **Sequential Read (NVMe Array):** Sustained 42,000 MB/s (using 128 KB block size).
- **Random Read (4K QD64):** 8.1 Million IOPS (using FIO tool targeting the AIC accelerator).
- **Database Transaction Rate (OLTP Simulation – TPC-C):** 850,000 Transactions Per Minute (TPM) when utilizing the primary NVMe tier for logging and data files.
The system exhibits excellent I/O Queue Depth Scaling, maintaining near-linear IOPS growth until queue depths exceed 256 across the PCIe Gen 5.0 fabric.
2.3. Power Efficiency
Despite the high TDP components, the architecture benefits from significant per-core efficiency improvements.
- **Peak Power Draw (100% CPU/Memory Load, No GPU):** 1850 Watts (Measured at PSU input).
- **Idle Power Draw:** 180 Watts.
- **Performance per Watt (SPECrate/Watt):** 0.78.
This metric is crucial for Data Center Power Density planning.
3. Recommended Use Cases
The SR-2024-Alpha configuration is optimized for workloads requiring extreme parallelism, large working sets that fit within the 4TB memory space, and high I/O velocity.
3.1. High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Scientific Simulation
The combination of 112 physical cores and massive memory bandwidth makes this ideal for tightly coupled simulations.
- **Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD):** High core count excels at domain decomposition and solving large sparse matrix equations.
- **Molecular Dynamics (MD):** The 4TB RAM allows for simulations involving millions of atoms without swapping to slower storage, significantly reducing time-to-solution. HPC Cluster Deployment often leverages this configuration for the compute nodes.
- **Weather Modeling:** Running regional or global climate models that require frequent, rapid access to large state vectors.
3.2. Large-Scale Virtualization and Cloud Infrastructure
The high core count and abundant memory capacity allow for maximum Virtual Machine (VM) density while maintaining high quality of service (QoS).
- **VDI Density:** Capable of hosting over 800 concurrent standard desktop users (assuming 4 vCPUs/8GB RAM per user profile) while maintaining CPU reservations.
- **Container Orchestration Hosts:** Excellent platform for Kubernetes worker nodes requiring large amounts of memory for Java applications or in-memory caches (e.g., Redis clusters). Virtualization Best Practices suggest pinning critical workloads to specific NUMA nodes.
3.3. Enterprise Database Management
The storage architecture is specifically tuned for transactional workloads.
- **In-Memory Databases (e.g., SAP HANA):** The 4TB RAM allows for hosting large, active data sets entirely in memory, drastically reducing query latency.
- **High-Volume OLTP:** The NVMe array provides the necessary sustained IOPS for transaction logs and indexes critical for databases like Oracle or SQL Server.
3.4. AI/ML Training (CPU-Bound Stages)
While GPU-intensive training benefits from dedicated accelerator cards (see Section 1.5), the SR-2024-Alpha excels at the preprocessing and data loading stages of Machine Learning pipelines.
- **Data Ingestion:** Fast loading of petabyte-scale datasets from storage into memory for feature engineering.
- **Model Inference Serving:** Serving high-throughput, low-latency inference requests where the model weights fit within the 4TB memory footprint.
4. Comparison with Similar Configurations
To contextualize the SR-2024-Alpha, we compare it against two common contemporary server configurations: a high-core-count, moderate-memory system (SR-2024-Density) and a high-memory, lower-core-count system (SR-2024-MemoryMax).
4.1. Configuration Matrix Comparison
| Feature | SR-2024-Alpha (System Resources) | SR-2024-Density (High Core, Low RAM) | SR-2024-MemoryMax (High RAM, Moderate Core) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Configuration | 2 x 56 Cores (112P) | 2 x 64 Cores (128P) – Lower TDP per core | 2 x 40 Cores (80P) – Higher Base Clock |
| Total RAM Capacity | 4 TB (4800 MT/s) | 1 TB (4800 MT/s) | 8 TB (4000 MT/s) |
| Primary Storage | 40 TB NVMe (Gen 5.0) + AIC | 20 TB SAS SSD (Gen 4.0 RAID) | 32 TB NVMe (Gen 4.0) |
| Memory Bandwidth (Peak) | 1.2 TB/s | 0.6 TB/s | 1.0 TB/s (Slower speed) |
| Ideal Workload | Balanced HPC, Virtualization Host | Purely parallel compute (e.g., Monte Carlo) | Large single-instance databases (e.g., SAP HANA) |
4.2. Trade-off Analysis
The SR-2024-Alpha strikes a balance. The Density model sacrifices 3TB of RAM headroom for 16 extra physical cores, which is beneficial only if the application’s working set is guaranteed to fit within 1TB. The MemoryMax configuration provides 8TB of RAM but suffers from lower aggregate core count and slightly reduced memory frequency, impacting applications sensitive to thread count scaling.
The Alpha configuration is superior for environments where NUMA Locality must be maintained across a large dataset that benefits from high core counts (e.g., complex data transformations).
5. Maintenance Considerations
Proper maintenance is essential to ensure the longevity and sustained performance of the high-density SR-2024-Alpha platform.
5.1. Thermal Management and Cooling
The system's total thermal output (including 700W of CPU TDP plus high-power NVMe drives and networking) necessitates robust cooling infrastructure.
- **Minimum Required Cooling Capacity:** 2.2 kW (Total System Load).
- **Recommended Airflow:** Minimum 150 CFM per server unit delivered via front-to-back cooling ducts.
- **Hot Aisle Management:** Due to the 350W TDP CPUs, the exhaust air temperature must be monitored closely. Environments exceeding 30°C ambient temperature will result in automatic CPU throttling (down-clocking) to maintain junction temperature (Tj max) limits, potentially reducing performance by up to 15%. Server Thermal Throttling Policy must be reviewed.
5.2. Power Requirements
The system requires high-capacity Power Distribution Units (PDUs) and appropriate UPS backup.
- **PSU Configuration:** Dual redundant 2400W 80+ Platinum power supplies.
- **Input Voltage Requirement:** Requires 208V or 240V AC input for optimal efficiency and to ensure both PSUs can operate at peak load without tripping standard 120V circuit breakers.
- **Power Cords:** Must use C19 connectors, not standard C13.
Failure to provide adequate voltage or current capacity will lead to unstable operation under peak load, potentially causing Voltage Sag events which can corrupt data on the high-speed NVMe drives.
5.3. Firmware and Driver Management
Maintaining the latest firmware is critical, especially concerning the PCIe Gen 5.0 interconnects and memory controllers, which receive frequent updates addressing stability and performance regressions.
1. **BIOS/UEFI:** Update to the latest version quarterly. Pay specific attention to updates concerning Memory Training Algorithms and UPI stability. 2. **Storage Controller Firmware:** The MegaRAID controller firmware must be synchronized with the operating system driver version to avoid unexpected controller resets during heavy RAID rebuilds. 3. **NIC Firmware:** InfiniBand and RoCE adapters require regular firmware updates to ensure compatibility with network fabric switches and to implement security patches related to RDMA Vulnerabilities.
5.4. Component Replacement Procedures
Due to the high density:
- **RAM Replacement:** Must be performed with the system powered down and fully discharged. Static discharge precautions are mandatory, as the high density of DIMMs increases static risk during handling.
- **NVMe Drives:** Hot-swapping is supported for the U.2 drives *only* if the chassis backplane is rated for hot-swap (SR-2024-Alpha supports this). However, workloads must be drained from the affected drive array before removal to prevent data loss in non-RAID 1 configurations. Consult the Hot-Swap Procedure Documentation before initiating.
Conclusion
The SR-2024-Alpha configuration represents a leading-edge platform optimized for balanced, high-throughput computing. Its strength lies in the synergy between 112 high-performance cores, 4TB of high-speed DDR5 memory, and a PCIe Gen 5.0-dominated storage fabric, positioning it as the preferred choice for demanding enterprise virtualization, large-scale database hosting, and complex scientific modeling environments where both processing power and data access speed are paramount. Careful attention to power delivery and cooling infrastructure is required to realize its full performance potential.
Intel-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Core i7-6700K/7700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 512 GB | CPU Benchmark: 8046 |
| Core i7-8700 Server | 64 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2x1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 13124 |
| Core i9-9900K Server | 128 GB DDR4, NVMe SSD 2 x 1 TB | CPU Benchmark: 49969 |
| Core i9-13900 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i9-13900 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (64GB) | 64 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Server (128GB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x500 GB NVMe SSD | |
| Core i5-13500 Workstation | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2 NVMe SSD, NVIDIA RTX 4000 |
AMD-Based Server Configurations
| Configuration | Specifications | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 3600 Server | 64 GB RAM, 2x480 GB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 17849 |
| Ryzen 7 7700 Server | 64 GB DDR5 RAM, 2x1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 35224 |
| Ryzen 9 5950X Server | 128 GB RAM, 2x4 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 46045 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X Server | 128 GB DDR5 ECC, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 63561 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/1TB) | 128 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/2TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (128GB/4TB) | 128 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/1TB) | 256 GB RAM, 1 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 7502P Server (256GB/4TB) | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe | CPU Benchmark: 48021 |
| EPYC 9454P Server | 256 GB RAM, 2x2 TB NVMe |
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⚠️ *Note: All benchmark scores are approximate and may vary based on configuration. Server availability subject to stock.* ⚠️