The Intel W480 Motherboard Overview: LGA1200 For Xeon W-1200
by Gavin Bonshor on June 24, 2020 9:00 AM ESTASRock Rack W480D4U
Although ASRock and ASRock Rack are similar in name, they are separate entities under the same company in the motherboard space. ASRock Rack by comparison caters to the workstation and server markets. The ASRock Rack W480D4U is an interesting model with its micro-ATX size, and support for both ECC and non-ECC memory up to DDR4-2933. Included are a pair of PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, eight SATA ports, dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet and an Aspeed AST2500 BMC controller.
Sorry for the slightly blurry image, this is all that is currently available
Looking at the design of the ASRock Rack W480D4U, it isn't anything fancy with a standard green PCB, and blue and white memory slots. These four memory slots include support for up to DDR4-2933, both ECC and non-ECC modules are supported, and up to a maximum of 128 GB can be installed. There is a single full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, with a half-length PCIe 3.0 x8 slot, and a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. Included on the board is an Aspeed AST2500 BMC controller which provides access to ASRock Racks intuitive interface and control panel. For storage, the W480D4U is using two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots with eight SATA ports with one port supporting SATA DOM, with all the SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. The board is also equipped with seven 4-pin fan headers which are exceptional for a board of this size.
The rear panel includes two USB 3.1 G2 Type-A and two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports, with two Intel I20 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and a dedicated Realtek RTL8211E Ethernet port for the boards IPMI controlled by an Aspeed AST2500 BMC controller. Finishing off the rear panel of the W480D4U is a D-sub video output for the BMC, a serial port, and UID LED button.
The ASRock Rack W480D4U conforms more to what is expected from its workstation and server series of models, with its green PCB and unassuming controller set. The board doesn't include integrated audio which isn't a negative, and overall it packs a nice punch for a micro-ATX Xeon focused model with seven 4-pin fan headers, support for 128 GB of DDR4 memory, and dual Gigabit Ethernet.
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duploxxx - Thursday, June 25, 2020 - link
Intel don't need to compete with threadripper. This workstation chipset will move to all default OEM workstations as usual. OEM that are affraid to change anything on there portfolio because of R&D funding budgets from Intel to keep using there chipsets and cpu. IT will swallow it anyhow as they see still Intel as the only fit for business.... and also because the decision body is most of the time led by people who are sitting far to long at an IT desk thinking they still know anything about HW. 100000's of these workstations will just be business as usual, CVE, underwhelming core performance vs competition, heat, it does not matter the only thing OEM (Dell, HPinc, ...) will offer are Intel based workstation. We use 1000's a year asking several years to get an alternative into the Z offering from HPinc to getdecent pricing on +10 cores …. the only answer is "we will look into it"Dr_b_ - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link
"This doesn't even compete with Threadripper, much less Epyc."Its not trying to. TR and EPYC are in a different cost tier entirely. Why would you buy a TR or EPYC and pay more, if you didn't need the number of cores or lanes they offered, and if your workloads weren't going to utilize those cores or lanes. And if you needed those cores and lanes, you wouldn't be looking at this segment. Think edge computing tasks, SMB, storage, virtualization.
Intel also offers stability, and an IPC advantage, at least for now. Maybe ZEN3 comes along and changes the game, at least in terms of IPC, but the jury is still out on stability. Poor QA, insufficient testing and qualification, and really bad software, seems to be a systemic issue at AMD.
edzieba - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Different use-cases. If you buy a workstation with the attitude of "more cores must be more better!" you will very likely end up wasting money on a system that does not perform as well as one chosen for the tasks you will be performing.Deicidium369 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Most people who opt for this board will use it as a small office server - and most would not even need to expand. Add a couple sticks of ECC or not memory, a couple of SATA drive and they would be set. several USB3.2 ports, 2.5Gb/s Ethernet and integrated graphics. Perfect small business server.MDD1963 - Saturday, June 27, 2020 - link
had a person on a forum tentatively planning on using an X299/ i9-7900X as the basis for a simple home media/file server build....(undoubtedly on a 1 GbE network at home, no less)Samus - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
I think the lack of PCIe 4.0 is the sole deal breaker. Intel has it on their high end server platforms, why hasn't this filtered down to the workstation...you'd think they would just tweak the same chipset - the silicon support IS THERE in Comet Lake CPU's as they have already announced Rocket Lake (the same microarchitecture as Comet Lake) will support PCIe 4.0 later this year. I mean what is that going to require yet another chipset?Two totally different platform launched in the same year, really Intel?
Deicidium369 - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Vast majority of small businesses who would opt for this CPU could care less about PCIe4 or more cores.Rocket Lake S will be built on the same process as Comet Lake - but will be basically a Tiger Lake in architecture (Willow Cove, Xe LP 24EU). Z490 will support PCIe4 on some boards - but Rocket Lake will launch with the Z590 which will be PCIe4. Will be great to finally have PCIe4 reach mainstream status. Same LGA1200 socket, different chipsets.
Samus - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
You are joking right? Why would somebody buy a high end workstation in June 2020 with PCIe 3.0, when PCIe 4.0 SSD's have been out for months and even the PlayStation 5, a VIDEOGAME CONSOLE, will have a PCIe 4.0 SSD next year, all the while Intel will be revising these CPU's and presumably the chipset around PCIe 4.0 within 6 months?Anybody buying into this platform is getting screwed. To say someone who wants a W1200 doesn't care about PCIe 4.0 is as ridiculous as saying someone who buys a Corvette doesn't care about 0-60.
PixyMisa - Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - link
Intel themselves are selling PCIe 4.0 SSDs. They just don't have anything that can use them at that speed.Foeketijn - Thursday, June 25, 2020 - link
No. These servers are the cheapest servers. That is the sole purpose. You want high end? You need a different platform. Box from the shelve. Install Windows server. Done.No upgrades, no performance parts. Just run it as long as it runs.