Supermicro SYS-111C-NR 1U Intel Xeon Server Review

Supermicro SYS-111C-NR Block Diagram

Here is the server’s block diagram.

There are a few items to note. One of the big ones is that the M.2 slots are not PCIe Gen5 x4 from the CPU. Instead, they are PCIe Gen3 x2 from the PCH. These slots are mostly for boot drive applications. The PCH also handles the SATA connectivity to the front drive bays.

This is a bit more complex than we would typically see on the AMD side because the PCH is included. Still, since it is a single-socket platform, the high-speed I/O and memory connectivity are a lot simpler than on dual-socket servers.

Next, let us get to management.

Supermicro SYS-111C-NR Management

This is one of Supermicro’s X13 generation platforms. As such, it is using the newer ASPEED AST2600 BMC. That means we get an updated Supermicro IPMI management interface (and Redfish API) solution versus what we saw on the older generation platforms.

That includes features like HTML5 iKVM functionality that can be used to install OSes and troubleshoot remotely.

One change that we highlighted recently is that with the HTML5 iKVM, one now needs a license to remote mount media directly when using this solution. We discuss other ways to mount media in the new era of Supermicro management in How to Add Virtual Media to a Supermicro Server via HTML5 iKVM Web IPMI Interface.

Aside from what is on the motherboard, Supermicro has a number of other tools to help manage its platforms.

The BMC password is on the front tag. You can learn more about why this is required so the old ADMIN/ ADMIN credentials will not work in Why Your Favorite Default Passwords Are Changing.

Next, let us get to the performance.

Performance

Since we are reviewing the server and not the Intel Xeon Platinum 84523Y’s performance, we wanted to give a sense of how the system performed compared to Intel’s reference platform. The chips are high-end at 300W. In many servers, we would see thermal throttling, especially if cooling was insufficient. Here is what we saw:

Performance here was very good. We were a bit skeptical given the 1U platform as 300W+ CPUs can sometimes cause challenges. In this platform, with the Platinum 8452Y that we have been using for these reviews, we saw very solid cooling performance. That cooling performance led to the CPU hitting higher turbo frequencies more often and therefore giving more performance with the same CPU. The Supermicro SYS-111C-NR performed very well here.

Next, let us get to the power consumption.