SemiVoice

At NVIDIA GTC 2025, Gigabyte showcased its GIGAPOD and GB300 NVL72 compute blades. The GIGAPOD integrates NVIDIA HGX platforms with liquid cooling for dense racks. The GB300 NVL72 represents the next generation of high-end racks.

The GIGAPOD is available in both liquid-cooled and air-cooled versions, offering power savings and density advantages. It supports various HGX platforms, including HGX H200, B200, and B300, and features liquid cooling blocks for NVLink switches.

The liquid-cooled model uses CoolIT coldplates for efficient cooling. The design allows for a compact 4U chassis, optimizing space in dense environments.

➀ NVIDIA has made a significant change to its HGX B300 platform, renaming it to HGX B300 NVL16 to reflect the number of compute dies connected via NVLink.

➁ The platform now includes up to 2.3TB of HBM3e memory and features sixteen dual Blackwell GPU package modules.

➂ The new design integrates the NVIDIA ConnectX-8 NICs, which use the built-in PCIe switch to provide previously required functionality, potentially impacting networking choices for users of the HGX B300 and GB200/GB300 platforms.

➀ This article provides a quick look at the V-Color 96GB DDR5-5600 ECC UDIMM kit, which includes two 48GB modules for a total of 96GB. The kit is priced at $399 and offers a good balance of capacity and cost compared to other options.

➁ The review highlights the advantages of using this kit in lower-cost servers and workstations that support ECC UDIMMs but not ECC RDIMMs.

➂ The author mentions that while the kit is not cheap, it is a better option compared to the more expensive 32GB Micron DIMMs with less capacity.

VMware has reintroduced a free version of ESXi 8.0U3e, allowing users to download and install it for evaluation purposes. This is not the full version, but it is available for download. The process to obtain the free version involves navigating through the Broadcom support portal and accepting terms and conditions.

For those seeking a simple virtualization host based on VMware ESXi, this free version offers a straightforward solution, although it lacks advanced features. This reintroduction of a free option in the VMware ecosystem comes after around 14 months without such an option, and some users may have already switched to alternative ecosystems.

➀ The MikroTik RDS2216-02XG-4S+4XS-2XQ is a 1U system that combines a network switch, routing functions, NAS, and server functions into a single box.

➁ It features a Marvell switch with 10GbE, 100GbE, and 25GbE capabilities, along with an Annapurna Labs Arm CPU for server and NAS operations.

➂ The system includes space for 22 SSDs, with 20x front-accessible NVMe SSDs and 2x internal SATA M.2 SSDs, but has limitations in drive bay size and PCIe connectivity.

At NVIDIA GTC 2025, we got to tour Pegatron's booth, where we saw the Pegatron NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 rack and other GPU systems. The GB300 NVL72 racks are liquid cooled with a busbar for power in the rear. The sleds have four Blackwell modules along with two NVIDIA Grace CPUs and are liquid cooled.

The article also mentions that Pegatron is integrating Delta power supply shelves into their racks and that the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 is neat, with several other GPU systems on display.

➀ Kioxia, AIO Core, and Kyocera have developed a PCIe Gen5 over optical SSD;

➁ The new technology doubles the speed of the previous PCIe Gen4 version;

➂ The technology is designed for future data centers and allows for longer PCIe distances.

➀ IBM unveiled its new z17 mainframe, powered by the Telum II processor, which integrates advanced AI capabilities with built-in accelerators and PCIe-based Spyre cards.

➁ The Telum II processor features larger caches and a new on-die AI accelerator, while the Spyre cards offer high-performance AI acceleration.

➂ The system is designed for high-reliability transaction processing, with liquid cooling and DPU technology to enhance performance and efficiency.

➀ At NVIDIA GTC 2025, ASUS showcased the AI Pod for the NVIDIA GB300 generation, featuring PCIe GPU systems and new HGX B200 and B300 systems.

➁ The rack contains 18 NVIDIA GB300 compute blades, each with four B300 modules and two Grace CPUs.

➂ The system also includes NVIDIA ConnectX-8 NIC, BlueField-3 DPU, and liquid-cooled SSD array, with NVLink Switch sleds and complex cable cartridges.

➀ The article discusses the possibility of running the 94GB NVIDIA H100 NVL PCIe card as a single GPU without the NVLink bridge;

➁ The test was conducted and the card was found to work as expected;

➂ The implications for the H100 NVL in the secondary market and its potential use in servers are discussed.

➀ The QNAP QNA-T310G1S Thunderbolt 3 to 10G adapter is reviewed;

➁ It is used for quick connections to SFP+ fiber networks;

➂ The adapter is compatible with Macbook Pros and does not require a SFP+ cage.

At NVIDIA GTC 2025, the NVIDIA GB300 NVLink Switch tray was showcased. This liquid-cooled switch tray is designed to fit in the NVL72 racks, with features like liquid-cooling nozzles, busbar power, and connectors for NVLink cable cartridges. The design includes liquid-cooled NVLink switch chips and metal tubes for liquid cooling, differentiating it from typical liquid-cooled servers.

➀ The article discusses the performance impact of using 1DPC configuration on AMD EPYC 4004 processors.

➁ It highlights that the memory speed decreases when both channels are populated.

➂ The author suggests that 1DPC can offer better performance in certain scenarios.

➀ The Deepseek-R1 671B model has captured industry attention for its advanced reasoning capabilities;

➁ The challenge of running this model is its high memory requirements, which can be addressed through quantization;

➂ This article discusses a solution to run the model on an AMD Volcano platform with virtualized workloads, showcasing the use of Docker and Open WebUI for deployment.

➀ The MLPerf Inference v5.0 results have been released, showing that NVIDIA Hopper systems dominate the rankings;

➁ Intel and AMD also have their own submissions, focusing on different market segments;

➂ The article discusses the performance of various systems and the focus on Deepseek-R1 671B inference performance.

➀ The Dell Precision 3280 Compact Workstation is reviewed, highlighting its impressive specifications and compact size;

➁ The system features a 24-core CPU, ECC memory, 8 display outputs, RAID 0/1 SSDs, and a 20GB NVIDIA GPU;

➂ The review notes the system's ease of access for upgrades and its versatility in connecting multiple displays.