BIOS

The ASRock Rack EPYCD8-2T is using a very basic version of American Megatrends Aptio firmware. It has a basic GUI which is designed more towards professional use as opposed to consumer use. The GUI is using basic grey background with blue highlights at the top, with grey text and white highlighting. While we have seen this firmware before used on other professional models from other brands, this ASRock board does include hot keying for taking screenshots which can be done by pressing the F12 key.

On the main screen, users can find a list of core hardware installed including basic information including the processor model number, L1, L2 and L3 cache information, including information on the memory installed. Users looking for power control functions will find them in the advanced section, including C-State, PCIe, and options for enabling and disabling AMD's Core Performance Boost technology. The server management section allows users to made customizations to the Aspeed AST2500 BMC controller. This includes options to set a custom Static IP for users to log into the boards IPMI function remotely across a network.

The firmware on the ASRock Rack EPYCD8-2T caters to professional users without fanfare. It's designed to be efficient, stable, and drops the flashy GUI of consumer boards to focus more on functionality. 

Software

Although the ASRock EPYCD8-2T doesn't 'technically' include a software bundle, it does include an Aspeed AST2500 BMC and Realtek RTL8211E Gigabit Ethernet controller. The AST2500 allows users to access the system physically without a graphics card through the D-sub, or through a network with a dynamic or static IP address which can be set within the board's firmware. 

The ASRock Rack intelligent platform management interface (IPMI) is one of the better examples with a fluid control panel with access to many different functions. The main IPMI dashboard shows information from the integrated sensors which range from CPU temperature, CPU and system voltage readings, as well as individual readouts from each of the memory slots. Also on display is how much free space is available on the system including access to event logs, system maintenance including updating the board's firmware through the KVM viewer. ASRock Rack has two versions of its KVM viewer which include HTML5 and Java. Users can also control power elements including forcing shutdowns, reboots and start up the system remotely. 

Users looking to download up-to-date drivers will need to from the official product page on the ASRock website, as the board doesn't include a physical disk in the accessories bundle. The ASRock Rack IPMI can be accessed remotely, or directly on the network, with the BMC shown clearly during system POST. It has an intuitive IPMI control panel with plenty of functionality for professional users.

Visual Inspection Board Features, Test Bed and Setup
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  • romrunning - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    Would it be possible to get a review of more recent AMD server boards from ASRockRack, like the ROMED8HM3 (SP3 socket, supports EPYC Rome, has many PCIe 4.0 slots)?
  • Slash3 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    The ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T is a similarly near perfect board for the current Epyc CPUs; I'd love to see some reviews once it hits retail channels (within a few weeks, hopefully).

    https://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.a...
  • cygnus1 - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    I plan to build a new home server before the end of the year so I went and checked that one out. I do want it to be AMD, and not really caring if it's Epyc or Ryzen, just need to find a good board with IPMI like these AsrockRack ones. The only problem I see for me with the ROMED8-2T is no x16 slots and the x8 slots are all closed ended for some reason, so you can't even put an x16 card in them.
  • brucethemoose - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    All 7 slots on the ROMED8-2T are x16.

    https://www.asrockrack.com/photo/ROMED8-2T-1(M).jp...
  • Foeketijn - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    Not sure what the requirements are, but I can endorse the Asrockrack X470 boards. Ryzens Zen2 and the x470 make a really efficient powerhouse (just 100 Watts for a 8 core in a noisy but cool 1u server doing stress testing)
  • romrunning - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    Or the ROMED8-2T or ROMED8QM-2T? Really, I guess any of the newer "ROME" models that ASRockRack has listed. These newer boards would be more relevant than the older EPYCD8-2T, of which the ROMED8-2T seems like it's the direct successor.
  • Mr Perfect - Tuesday, April 21, 2020 - link

    Yes, please review Epyc boards with PCIe 4. There are several in this price range that have it, so it's not really beneficial to look at boards of the same cost that have half the IO bandwidth.

    Tyan's S8030GM4NE-2T has five x16 4.0 slots and the two 10gb Ethernet ports. I'd love to know if that board was any good.
  • shabby - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    Only two 10g ports? Come on where are my 100g ports...
  • vladpetric - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    100g is not something that a CPU-based system can saturate. High end switches, aggregating traffic from multiple end points - sure. Software running on a CPU - no.
  • eastcoast_pete - Monday, April 20, 2020 - link

    I don't think that question was asked in earnest. However, if it was, I agree with you.

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