SMBs looking for an affordable single-socket rack server have traditionally chosen models with Intel Xeon E CPUs, but Broadberry Data Systems offers a much more tempting proposition. AMD has been busy lately promoting its Ryzen CPUs as a more powerful and cost-effective alternative, and Broadberry's CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 showcases this philosophy perfectly.
Presented as a compact 1U rack system, the CyberServe features an incredible 4.5GHz 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. Broadberry sweetens the deal even further as the price includes the maximum 128GB of fast DDR5 memory Server-grade ECC.
The Intel E-2400 CPU family maxes out at eight cores and 3.2 GHz, so to get close to Ryzen, you'll need to consider a high-end Xeon Scalable Silver CPU or a mid-range Gold CPU. These are around double the price of a core equivalent Ryzen and you'll also need to consider the fact that most servers that support Xeon Scalable CPUs are not aimed at small businesses and will be priced higher.
Broadberry CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 Review: Build and Design
CyberServe presents the 1U4LW-B650/2L2T RPSU rack platform from ASRock. This Taiwanese company has strong credentials, having started manufacturing server motherboards about ten years ago and has built an impressively large portfolio of Ampere, Intel and AMD rack systems.
The CyberServe chassis is very solidly built and removing the lid reveals a neat and elegantly designed interior that allows easy access for upgrades and maintenance. The Ryzen CPU is topped with a thick passive heatsink and flanked on one side by four DIMM slots, each occupied by 32GB DDR5 UDIMM modules.
All chassis cooling is handled by a bank of five dual-rotor fans in front of the motherboard with lightweight plastic air shrouds to direct air over the CPU and expansion bay. The Ryzen CPU loses out to the Xeon E-2400 alternatives as it has a much higher 170W TDP, but we found the fans handled its demands well with noise levels low enough to not cause any concern in office spaces. little.
Network connections are plentiful as the back panel features pairs of integrated Gigabit and 10GbE RJ-45 ports, plus a dedicated Gigabit port for the server's IPMI controller. There's room to expand further, as the motherboard riser provides a single full-height PCIe Gen4 slot.
You have plenty of options if you want to connect a local monitor, as the server offers VGA, DisplayPort, and HDMI interfaces. Power redundancy is also present and correct, as the price includes dual 450W hot-plug power supplies.
Broadberry CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 Review: Storage Features
Standard storage features are fairly basic with the four hot-swap drive interfaces on the backplane connected directly to the motherboard's integrated SATA ports. These are presented to the resident operating system as individual drives, we install a pair of SATA hard drives and use Windows Server 2022's Storage Pools feature to create a software-managed RAID1 array.
The motherboard lacks a comprehensive RAID controller, but the backplane is SAS-ready, so you can add a suitable controller card to enable support. Broadberry offers a good range of Broadcom SATA/SAS3 adapters; The 9580-8i8e supports all common types of RAID arrays and is equipped with 8 GB of cache memory.
The drives are easily added by snapping them into ASRock's tool-free brackets and it's worth noting that unlike the blue chips, Broadberry allows you to install your own choice of storage devices without voiding the warranty. The motherboard also has a single M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5 slot and the price includes a large 2TB Corsair MP700 Pro NVMe SSD.
Broadberry CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 Review: Server Management
The server's integrated AST2600 IPMI controller and dedicated Gigabit port offer a clean web interface packed with plenty of information about system status and critical components. It's not as feature-rich as Dell's iDRAC9 or HPE's ILO6, but its dashboard provides an overview of the latest events and you can graph data from hardware sensors, define thresholds for each, and link them to email alerts. , if appropriate. are unfulfilled.
Firmware update tools are provided along with remote power controls and the controller's integrated firewall provides options to create basic, advanced or expert protection profiles. Unlike Dell and HPE, the IPMI controller includes full remote operating system control and virtual media services as standard features and not as chargeable license upgrades.
The free ASRockRack Server Management tool can be used to manage multiple ASRock servers from a single console and we had no problems installing it on a Windows Server 2022 host. Its network discovery tool found the CyberServe IPMI driver and the dashboard page presented details about your firmware version and a table of all hardware sensors with their current values.
It doesn't offer hardware inventory, but you can monitor server power, start remote control sessions using its HTML5 viewer, and allocate virtual media. Firmware update tools are provided for the BMC and server BIOS, and its PEF (Platform Event Filter) service allows you to link alerts such as a sensor exceeding its thresholds with emails and SNMP traps.
Broadberry CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 Review: Is it worth it?
Priced for the system under review at £2,795, Broadberry's CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 offers a very affordable alternative to the current crop of Intel Xeon E-2400 rack servers. The Ryzen 9 7950X CPU brings twice as many cores to the table as the high-end Xeon E-2488 and is also much faster.
The low-profile chassis can reach places many other servers can't, Broadberry is happy for you to fit your own choice of storage devices and it comes with a good range of remote management tools. It may be an entry-level server, but the CyberServe has the power to handle demanding workloads with ease and the inclusion of a generous 128GB of DDR5 memory in the starting price makes it an absolute bargain.
Broadberry CyberServe Ryzen RY1-104 Specifications
| System | 1U ASRock 1U4LW-B650/2L2T RPSU |
| Motherboard | ASRock B650D4U-2L2T/BCM |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16-core 4.5 GHz |
| Memory | 128GB DDR5 ECC at 4800 MT/s (Max. 128GB) |
| Storage bays | 4 x hot-swap LFF/SFF drive bays |
| Other storage | 1 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5 slot |
| RAID | Optional SATA/SAS HBA |
| Storage included | 1 x 2TB Corsair MP700 PRO Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSD |
| Grid | 2 Gigabits, 2 RJ45 10 GbE |
| Expansion | 1 PCIe Gen4 slot |
| Force | 2 hot-pluggable 450W power supplies |
| Management | Aspeed AST2600 BMC with Gigabit, ASRockRack server management |
| Warranty | 3 year advanced replacement |
