The big AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 Series Launch, and what it may mean to Intel Xeon D home lab enthusiasts

Posted by Paul Braren on Feb 21 2018 (updated on Feb 28 2018) in
  • HomeLab
  • HomeServer
  • CPU

    • Come back and refresh, this new article is a work in progress!

    I'm happy that Xeon D finally has some competition, validating the value of the embedded/IoT market niche that home virtualization lab enthusiasts have benefited from. There are many popular Intel Xeon D designs that take advantage of the compact and efficient "System on a Chip" design.

    Any competitive pressures that help keep prices in check are good! You'll want to get started by reading ServeTheHome's fantastic new article:

    • AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 Series Launch Watch Out Xeon D
      Feb 21 2018 by Patrick Kennedy at STH

      We recently attended a launch of two new products, the AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 series and the AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 series. This piece is going to focus on the AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 series which has the technical features that should have the Intel Xeon D team nervous.
      ...

    I'm out of time to add more analysis to this article for today, but this carefully crafted Google search should keep you busy for a while:
    AMD EPYC Embedded 3000.

    966540326134534144

    FYI, I’m currently in the midst of improvements to my home lab environment, retooling to get ready for some serious tinkering. I’ll have some fun pictures of the progress I’ve made already that I'll be sharing soon, and I’m working on getting a Xeon D-2100 loaner for testing too.

    If I do manage to get my hands on enough funds to try an AMD EPYC out, you can bet it will be the 3000 Series. Note that the supported launch OS list doesn’t include VMware. It doesn't even include Windows yet, so it may be a while before maturity and support is really there for VMware. Note that the Xeon D-2100, only launched earlier this month, already works with VMware, see Intel Xeon D-2100 with VMware ESXi and Ubuntu 16.04 on Supermicro X11SDV. Whatever happens, the 3000 Series will likely be smoother than AMD's Ryzen first experiences were with ESXi 6.5.

    Feb 28 2018 Update

    I think this tweet by AnandTech's Ian Cutress sums it all up quite nicely:

    966590235600617472

    See also this tweet by @david_schor.

    See also at TinkerTry

    intel-xeon-d-2100-announced

    amd-ryzen-works-with-vmware-esxi-65-at-a-cost-of-30-percent-performance-not-a-compelling-xeon-d-alternative

    TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.

    Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.

    Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi