AMD Athlon MP 2200+ Server Roundup - September 2002

The Motherboards

Although Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers began producing 760MPX based solutions for the server and workstation markets towards the end of last year, there's really only one manufacturer that is consistently chosen for most Athlon MP server designs - Tyan.

Tyan's success in the Athlon MP market comes from their extensive experience manufacturing high-end server and workstation boards, primarily for Intel platforms. Just as the Intel name is more trusted when it comes to server CPUs, the Tyan brand garners more respect when it comes to server motherboards. Tyan is also one of the only manufacturers to offer a 1U compliant 760MP solution which, as you can tell by the number of 1U servers in this roundup, is a very important characteristic.

There are currently two motherboards in Tyan's 760MPX lineup - the Thunder K7X and the Tiger MPX.

The Thunder K7X is by far the most popular in 1U and 2U server solutions because of the fact that it is optimized for low-profile environments. The motherboard's DIMM slots are mounted on the PCB at a 45 degree angle to allow stacked DIMMs to be installed while still being able to fit in a 1U form factor.

The board also features dual on-board Ethernet controllers, on-board SCSI (optional) and on-board video; because of its highly integrated nature, the Thunder K7X can function in most environments without any additional add-in cards. With most 1U cases only offering room for 0 or 1 expansion slots, the Thunder K7X fits the bill perfectly.

The obvious downside to the Thunder K7X is its extremely high price tag; while it doesn't retail for anywhere near the original $600 price tag, you can expect the motherboard to contribute around $350 - $450 to the price of a server.

Tyan's Tiger MPX is the entry-level 760MPX solution, designed to offer basic 2P functionality but without the frills of the Thunder K7X. The DIMM slots on the Tiger MPX are not angled so stacked DIMMs will not work in a 1U solution, although low-profile DIMMs will still be able to fit. The board has no on-board video or Ethernet so a riser will be necessary in 1U/2U solutions; this is why you'll rarely see the Tiger MPX used in anything below a 4U chassis since there are usually not enough expansion slots offered in 1U/2U cases to accommodate a video card, Ethernet and SCSI controller(s).

The benefit to the Tiger MPX's stripped down nature is a vastly reduced price tag, only contributing between $100 - $200 to the overall price of a server.

Because the vast majority of server manufacturers will standardize on one of these two motherboards (mostly the Thunder K7X), the basic feature set of these servers will be virtually identical from one solution to the next.

Tyan also provides their own System Monitor program that will monitor the temperatures and voltages of CPUs, memory and voltage regulators along with the rotation speed of fans. Should anything drop below acceptable margins you can tell Tyan's System Monitor to automatically shutdown or reboot the server or simply trigger an alarm.

The remote management features provided by Tyan's boards are not nearly as comprehensive as what Intel's Enterprise Platform Solutions Division (EPSD) can deliver in their solutions; but as is often the case, you get what you pay for and these Athlon MP servers are much more affordable than similar performing Intel offerings.