Unboxing and assembly of first Xeon D-1567 Supermicro system, the SYS-5028D-TN4T 12 Core Bundle 2
Supermicro's first Xeon D-1567 System!
Unboxed, drives installed, OS install started, options shown
Despite Typhoon Chaba and Hurricane Matthew related delays (slowing shipping from Taiwan to San Jose to Miami to Connecticut), it's here, one of the world's first Xeon D-1567 systems! Mine shipped out from Wiredzone in Miami mid-last-week, one of several shipped out that week, after the usual 4 hour memory burn-in test. It's likely the very first seen in the wild. This 12 core beast of a system wouldn't have existed at all if it wasn't for the many participants in the ITProHobby poll!
I'm happy to present to you a detailed, uncut, and perhaps-too-thorough video of the entire unboxing, assembly, BIOS verification, and initial OS install procedure. That's right, no steps is skipped, and the leisurely pace allows you to follow along with me, in real time, as you prepare your Bundle 1, 2 or 3 12 core system for your OS of choice. You'll see it's all rather straight-forward, and if you make it to the end, there's some optional bits (and a 2nd M.2 NVMe drive adapter) that might be of interest to you in the future.
In the video, you'll see me install the following items that are representative of what you might already have in your lab:
- 2 2.5" SSD drives - Samsung 850 EVO and an old Corsair, in internal drive bays
- 1 M.2 NVMe drive - Samsung 950 PRO
- 1 3.5" HDD drive - 10TB HGST He10
Well, I realize 10TB isn't exactly typical. I really do use a lot of that space for backups and media, and it allows me to re-purpose 2TB and 4TB drives elsewhere, saving some watts too.
So glad my SYS-5028D-TN4T Xeon D-1541 now has a more powerful 10GbE-connected sibling, in time to create quite the VMware vSphere 6.5 cluster (Q4 2016)!
Note that this new Xeon D-1567 system isn't yet on the VMware HCL (Compatibility Guide), but the Xeon D-1541 has been for a while, and Supermicro is clearly working to fix this gap, as explained by Supermicro in the interview I recorded at VMworld here. Other than the core count and cache sizes, and a possibly better CPU heat sink/fan combo called the SNK-C0092A4L, these systems are completely identical, even the BIOS 1.1c. This is good, and should make deployment a snap, see how simple it is to install ESXi 6.0 and Window Server 2016 Hyper-V.
Tools used
Qty 1 Ouya H30207 Phillips Screwdriver PH1 x 200mm
Qty 1 Revlon Clipper
Qty 1 6 Inch Nylon Cable Ties in Black and White
Video Index
HH:MM:SS
00:00:00 - intro/overview
00:04:38 - actual unboxing begins
00:08:07 - cover removed, let's have a brief look around
00:09:48 - accessories bag contents
00:12:58 - remove 2 white nylon wire ties
00:14:12 - two 2.5" SSDs installed
00:22:10 - 6" black wire tie installed, to tidy up wires routed to the 2.5" drive bay
00:23:37 - new CPU heatsink / fan discovered
00:25:05 - one 3.5" HDD installed
00:29:45 - M.2 NVMe installed, sorry my arm kept blocking your view
00:33:00 - chassis cover put back on
00:34:00 - router with DHCP and 10G/1G switch
00:35:50 - Cyberpower PFCLCD UPS
00:39:30 - Power it up, first POST
00:40:40 - iKVM/IPMI IP address identified from temporary VGA monitor
00:46:42 - iKVM demonstration (Remote Console)
00:48:53 - verify BIOS settings (optional), ensure UEFI mode
00:53:31 - mount the ISO (Windows in this demo, could be Linux or VMware ESXi, etc)
OPTIONAL - accessories and future ideas below
00:57:07 - Low Profile PCIe slot EZDIY adapter for 2nd M.2 NVMe drive
01:02:18 - my "doh" moment, you'll see
01:03:28 - redeem myself somewhat, showing 2.5 to 3.5 caddy adapter
01:03:56 - for easier USB 3.0 access, QTY 2 StarTech.com USB 3.0 extension cables
01:04:56 - that carbon fiber look, VVIVID 5ft-1ft
Video
What are the other reasons this 4K video is unedited?
In case you find 4K video production of interest, and/or are wondering why I didn't have time edit this and get it to you with any kind of timeliness, well, let's just say that 4K video is early days, check out this this completely impractical work-flow:
- took ~2 hours just to copy the 1 hour 10 minute 26 GB MOV file from iPhone 7 Plus to Windows 10 PC over USB
- took ~1 hour to move 23GB MOV file (unedited) up to YouTube, using all of my home's generous upstream bandwidth of 30Mbps for the duration
- took ~5 hours for YouTube to allow playback at 360p
- took another ~3 hours for YouTube to prepare the other resolutions right up through 4K
- based on my 20 minute of 4K footage that I produced with the new 64 bit Camtasia 9 last week, any edits to this 1 hour 10 minute video would require ~12 hours of render time to output an MP4 version for YouTube upload, with all CPU cores being about 70% busy the whole time. It could be interesting to try again on newer equipment, to see whether Camtasia 9 can finally really leverage modern GPUs, but that wouldn't affect the other
See also at ITProHobby
- Voter results are in for Supermicro SuperServer bundle preferences featuring Xeon D-1541/1567/1587
Jun 01 2016
