Three Xeon E5 Server Systems From Intel, Tyan, And Supermicro

Features
By Patrick Kennedy
published

After taking a first look at Intel's Xeon E5 processors, we wanted to round up a handful of dual-socket barebones platforms to see which vendor sells the best match for Sandy Bridge-EP-based chips. Intel, Supermicro, and Tyan are here to represent.

Tyan GN70-K7053: Layout And Overview

Tyan's approach to the server space is traditionally different than Supermicro's. It used to sell its motherboards on their own. Recently, though, the company started seeing demand for enclosures designed specifically for its motherboards, and it now has a chassis line-up, too. Tyan sent along its S7053 motherboard and KGN70M1 2U chassis in a barebones package called the GN70-K7053.

The front of the Tyan KGN70M1 chassis presents few surprises. There are eight 3.5" hot-swap drive bays that feel solidly-built. The top-right  bay is used to house an optical drive, and you'll find a standard assortment of USB ports and LED indicator lights.

It's pretty apparent, given the copious ventilation up front, that Tyan is looking to keep lots of air moving through its case. And if you're wondering, the eight-bay configuration is also fairly common, since most storage controllers feature port counts in multiples of four. And once you go over eight, you're typically looking at an add-in SAS expander on a RAID card or HBA.

Tyan's drive assembly warrants attention, too. The company provides an insert in its 3.5" tray that lets you install a 2.5" disk or SSD in the hot-swap bays.

Tyan employs a fairly standard 2U layout with the ability to not only support ATX and EATX form factors, but also EEB- and CEB-based motherboards as well.

The middle of the chassis accommodates two rows of four hot-swap fans. The dual-row design gives Tyan the flexibility to deliver redundant cooling in the event a fan fails during operation. As you can see, each fan has a small carrier that enables simple hot-pluggable installation. A failed fan causes the chassis to trigger an alarm, and a small LED indicator goes red when a fan fails or is removed. Since each fan uses just over 16 W at full speed, Tyan equipped our sample with a single row of fans.

To the right of the mid-plane fans, Tyan uses a special distribution board. Power from the redundant PSUs is routed through the board's PCB and off to fans, drives, and the motherboard itself.

As mentioned, the KGN70M1 includes dual redundant power supplies in a side-by-side configuration. The two power supplies are 770 W 80 PLUS Gold-rated units that can be pulled out by releasing the orange lever and pulling on the black handle. Tyan does employ ducting, and it uses the space above the power supplies for chassis exhaust.

Patrick Kennedy
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mayankleoboy1
    the charts are looking strange. they need to be reduced in size a bit....
    Reply
  • EzioAs
    9532821 said:
    the charts are looking strange. they need to be reduced in size a bit....

    I agree. Just reduce it a little bit but don't make it too hard to see
    Reply
  • dogman_1234
    Cool. Now, can we compare these to Opteron systems?
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    no comparison needed. intel usually wins
    Reply
  • willard
    TheBigTrollno comparison needed. intel usually winsUsually? The E5s absolutely crush AMD's best offerings. AMD's top of the line server chips are about equal in performance to Intel's last generation of chips, which are now more than two years old. It's even more lopsided than Sandy Bridge vs. Bulldozer.
    Reply
  • Malovane
    dogman_1234Cool. Now, can we compare these to Opteron systems?
    As an AMD fan, I wish we could. But while Magny-Cours was competitive with the last gen Xeons, AMD doesn't really have anything that stacks up against the E5. In pretty much every workload, E5 dominates the 62xx or the 61xx series by 30-50%. The E5 is even price competitive at this point.

    We'll just have to see how Piledriver does.

    Reply
  • jaquith
    Hmm...in comparison my vote is the Dell PowerEdge R720 http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/poweredge-r720/pd?oc=bectj3&model_id=poweredge-r720 it's better across the board i.e. no comparison. None of this 'testing' is applicable to these servers.
    Reply
  • lilcinw
    Finally we have some F@H benches!! Thank you!

    Having said that I would suggest you include expected PPD for the given TPF since that is what folders look at when deciding on hardware. Or you could just devote 48 hours from each machine to generate actual results for F@H and donate those points to your F@H team (yes Tom's has a team and visibility is our biggest problem).
    Reply
  • dogman_1234
    lilcinwFinally we have some F@H benches!! Thank you!Having said that I would suggest you include expected PPD for the given TPF since that is what folders look at when deciding on hardware. Or you could just devote 48 hours from each machine to generate actual results for F@H and donate those points to your F@H team (yes Tom's has a team and visibility is our biggest problem).The issue is that other tech sites promote their teams. We do not have a promotive site. Even while mentioning F@H, some people do not agree with it or will never want to participate. It is a mentality. However, it is a choice!
    Reply
  • lilcinw
    I don't expect promotion at this point, just basic recognition would be appreciated.
    Reply