Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V2 Server

Description

The Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V2 is an ideal 2-socket 2U rack server maximizing performance and flexibility for future growth. Based on the new 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor family, the system supports Intel’s Optane Persistent Memory 200 Series, PCIe Gen 4.0, and up to 8x GPUs. It provides up to 12TB of memory and up to 491TB of storage for streaming media, HPC, enterprise applications, virtualization, cloud computing and more.

Performance

To meet the needs of small businesses or large enterprises, the Lenovo SR650 V2 supports two third-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, codenamed Ice Lake, with up to 40 cores and 80 threads each. They each have a 10nm process technology, and are limited to a TDP of up to 270W on this configuration. Each processor also supports 64x PCIe 4.0 lanes, or 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes total with both processors installed, for improved throughput with I/O and NVMe devices. The CPUs are engineered to deliver memory speeds of up to 3200MHz and offer data centric persistent memory module (DCPMM) support.

Memory

Compared to the ThinkSystem SR650, supporting 1st or 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, the 3rd gen CPUs offer up to 8x memory channels each. Each processor is in charge of 16x DIMM slots, for a total of 32x DIMM slots when both processors are installed. The ThinkSystem SR650 V2 supports up to 4TB of memory when 128GB 3DS RDIMMs are used to populate the memory slots. However, a total of 12TB of memory is possible with a combination of 3DS RDIMMs and Intel Optane Persistent memory modules. The server features memory speeds of up to 3200MHz depending on the type of DIMMs and processor model selected.

Storage

Among the many storage configurations, the SR650 V2 server has three drive bay zones supporting up to 28 different drive bay s configurations. It supports up to 20x 3.5-inch, 40x 2.5-inch hot-swap drive bays, or a combination depending on the selected chassis, backplane configuration, plus the addition of optional middle and rear storage cages. The platform features SAS, SATA, or U.2 & U.3 NVMe PCIe interfaces, plus an M.2 adapter located on the mid-drive bays. Depending on the chassis, there are five different drive cage configurations at the rear of the chassis including, a slot on the back of the server for 2x 7mm boot drives. If needed, the server also supports configurations without any drive bays for compute-intensive applications, but can support a maximum of 491TB of storage.

Expansion

At 2U, the SR650 V2 rack server supports a variety of NVIDIA GPUs. A total of 8x PCIe Gen 4 slots are available on the system, all full-height and all with rear access. Using a x16 PCIe 4.0 slot is more than sufficient to support a 200GbE networking connection. Up to 8x single-width or 3x double-width GPUs can be installed to perform graphic-intensive workloads. Additionally, there is a dedicated OCP 3.0 SFF slot for networking with a PCIe 4.0 x16 host interface. The use of slots 4, 5, and 6 requires the installation of both processors.

Management

The server is managed through Lenovo’s embedded XClarity Controller, which can be accessed a variety of ways. There is a USB port on the front panel where administrators can connect a mobile device and access the XClarity mobile app. Next to this USB port is a dedicated port for an external handset. If you don’t want to use these methods, an integrated LCD display, which may take up more drive bays on the front panel than needed, can also be used to manage the system. Lastly, the server can be remotely managed through a dedicated ethernet port on the back of the chassis, right next to the OCP 3.0 port.

Summary

Just about every corner of the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V2 is populated with the latest technology. Offering a plethora storage and compute-intensive configuration options. With support for up to 40x 2.5-inch drive bays, M.2 cards, and 7mm boot drives, this server has a lot to contribute in support of a diverse selection of high-performance computing applications. The 2U 2-socket server is leveraged by dual 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, which in turn supports DCPMMs, PCIe 4.0, and up to 8x GPUs.