ASRock Rack GNRD8-2L2T Block Diagram
The block diagram for this motherboard is really neat.
The first thing you might notice is that there are no SATA ports here. With Intel Xeon 6’s Birch Stream platform, the Lewisburg PCH is gone. Instead, we have a lot of PCIe Gen5 connectivity.
Of the seven PCIe Gen5 x16 slots, three are noted as “For Rich IO.” If you look at the block diagram, the UPI links are being re-purposed for PCIe in the RIO configuration. We discussed the Intel R1S, and that is really what is going on.
Those seven PCIe x16 slots, plus the x16 root being used for all of the networking and miscellaneous motherboard bits, and the x8 for the MCIO give us 136 PCIe lanes. Q1 2025 is going to be fun, but unfortunately, we are reviewing this before those Xeon parts are out.
ASRock Rack GNRD8-2L2T Management
With this generation of servers, we have the new ASPEED AST2600 BMC. That means we also get a newer ASRock Rack management solution.
Instead of going into this in-depth, since we just did that in the ASRock Rack AM5D4ID-2T/BCM review, we are just going to show the key features from that. Logging in, we can see an ASRock Rack skinned management interface. This is an industry-standard IPMI interface.
Included are features like HTML5 iKVM with remote media. Companies like Dell, HPE, and Lenovo charge a lot for iKVM functionality. Now, companies like Supermicro charge for remote media mountable via the HTML5 iKVM. This is a small feature, but one that is handy for many users and it is great that ASRock includes this with the board.
Another new feature with this generation is that the default password is admin/ admin, but then it immediately prompts for a change with some validation rules (e.g. you cannot just make “admin” the new password.) This is done to comply with local regulations.
Next, let us get to the performance.
ASRock Rack GNRD8-2L2T Performance
At this point, we only have Intel Xeon 6766E and 6780E parts. We decided to use the 6780E parts.
Overall, it was a very good performance here. We were pretty close and a bit better than our reference platform running in single socket mode.
Next, let us get to our key lessons learned.
There is some sort of connector directly above the fan headers shown both in your photos and asrocks but missing from the manual, it’s mentioned in the 3d models as a 60 pin board to board connector but i’m not sure what it would be used for(i’ve seen dell do something similar for modular idrac but this is in the wrong location) Any idea what it is for?
@Daniel Smith
Based on the component designators silkscreened onto the solder resist, I’m guessing that’s a MIPI port for something. What, I have no clue. It’s actually marked “MIPI1” if you look closely at the board in the larger photo.
How long does it take to POST? It would be nice if eliminating the PCH improved boot time.