购买了Ampere Altra系统

购买了Ampere Altra系统
Bought myself an Ampere Altra system

原始链接: https://marcin.juszkiewicz.com.pl/2025/06/27/bought-myself-an-ampere-altra-system/

作者构建了一个基于Ampere Altra的定制开发机器，以克服苹果MacBook Pro的64k页面大小限制。为了经济实惠，他们选择了二手的80核Ampere Altra Q80-30 CPU和128GB二手SK海力士ECC RAM。他们购买了一块专为数据中心设计的AsrockRack ALTRA8BUD-1L2T主板和一个Arctic Freezer 4U-M CPU冷却器。挑战包括为“深MicroATX”主板找到合适的机箱，最终选择Endorfy 700 Air。为系统供电需要12V电源；选择MSI MPG A850G，使用适配器进行通电和电源良好信号。Lexar LM790 2TB NVME驱动器和Radeon Pro WX2100图形卡完成了构建。由于升级到80核CPU和内存价格波动，总成本约为1800欧元，超过了最初的预算。未来的计划包括安装Fedora 42，创建具有4k和64k页面大小内核的各种Linux VM实例，测试Radeon RX 6700XT GPU，并探索其作为桌面的潜力。

This Hacker News thread discusses pabs3's purchase of an Ampere Altra system, highlighting its benefits and challenges. The Altra, an ARM-based server, offers advantages for specific workloads like C++ builds and Docker image creation, particularly when compared to cloud solutions, as mentioned by a_t48. However, the requirement for 64k page size, which the MacBook Pro lacks, is a limiting factor for the author's Red Hat work, as noted by amelius. The discussion also covers the availability and performance of ARM hardware. While Red Hat offers internal ARM machines, the author wanted a personal machine. Alternatives like Raspberry Pi were deemed unsuitable due to outdated kernels and proprietary boot methods, as detailed by jrockway. Commenters debated the price and benefits of ARM servers, with comparisons to x86/EPYC processors. Some users are successfully using ARM in the cloud to reduce costs, as noted by zxexz, while others highlighted compatibility and optimization challenges. Overall, the thread shows excitement and consideration around ARM hardware for server and development use, with awareness of the tradeoffs involved.

原文

In the hunt for a development machine, I got to the next phase. I did some shopping, and there it is: my own Ampere Altra-based system.

Why?

As you may have read in my previous post, I used several AArch64 systems for local development. And the latest one, an Apple MacBook Pro, is nice and fast but has some limits — does not support 64k page size. Which I need for my work.

Let’s go cheap

So I have decided to buy myself an Ampere Altra system. As cheap as possible.

AArch64 server parts

The only part I needed to buy brand new was a motherboard. And the only “affordable” one was AsrockRack ALTRA8BUD-1L2T, which was a product for data centres (so I was told).

Next, a used processor. At first, the idea was to buy a Q64-22 (64 cores, 2.2 GHz clock), but when the seller on eBay was not responding, one of my friends decided to upgrade his Altra systems and offered me a Q80-30 (80 cores, 3.0 GHz clock).

The CPU requires cooling. There are not many options for the LGA 4926 socket. I found an Arctic Freezer 4U-M in one of the online stores here in Poland and bought the only one they had.

Each computer needs memory, right? So I went with used ones again, as there is a huge market for used server parts. I bought eight sticks of 16GB each; the model is SK-Hynix HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN. It is not present on the official Ampere Altra memory Approved Vendor List.

Working fine (after re-seating three sticks):

DRAM populated DIMMs:
  SK0 MC0 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC1 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC2 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC3 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC4 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC5 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC6 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN
  SK0 MC7 S0: RDIMM[ad:80] 16GB 3200 ECC 2R x8 RCD[32:86] HMA82GR7CJR8N-XN

Ordinary parts

The rest of the parts are ordinary ones available in any random store.

Computer case

The case was a challenge. The ALTRAD8UD-1L2T is a “deep MicroATX” case which means I needed a case that can take an EATX motherboard (they are a bit deeper than ATX).

I looked through pictures in online stores and selected about 10 candidates. Then I started watching reviews and crossed several of them out. Usually because the holes for handling cables were too close to the edge of a board.

Finally, bought an Endorfy 700 Air case. It came with five 120mm fans (3 at the front, one at the rear, and one on the top). There was a lot of space behind the motherboard’s plate for cabling, and a fan splitter so I could connect all five case fans as one to the motherboard.

And the PSU compartment has an extra hole for PCIe power cables!

Power supply

The ALTRAD8UD-1L2T motherboard is expected to be powered by a 12V PSU only. There is no connection port for the ATX 24-pin plug. Instead, there is an adapter that takes only power-on and power-good signals from it and connects to the small 4-pin port on the motherboard.

There are three EPS12V connectors available. I used two of them. The MSI MPG A850G power supply I bought comes with two such cables and has an option for connecting the third one.

The rest

What else is needed? Some NVME for storage (Lexar LM790 2TB) and a random graphics card (Radeon Pro WX2100, remembering the old times).

And I was ready to build the system.

How does it look?

The motherboard feels small once the CPU cooler is mounted. And a low-profile graphics card is almost invisible:

The back side of the case shows where I hid the ATX 24-pin adapter and most of the cables.

Price

Of course, if I went cheap, then how cheap did it end up being?

Component	Price in PLN
motherboard	4 068
CPU	1 341
CPU cooler	191
memory	696
case	395
power supply	529
NVME	522

In total: 7 732 PLN (around 1 800 EUR). About 500 EUR more than I anticipated at first.

The CPU upgrade to 80 cores was extra 100 EUR. Memory came from another seller, as the first one ended their sale before I was ready to buy, resulting in an extra 40 EUR to the cost.

At first, I wanted to have 2GB per core, but with the CPU upgrade, I would have needed to go to 256 GB, and that would have been another 250-300 EUR extra.

The case had a 30% discount due to a promotion, and the NVME came with 7% cashback.

Plans

My current plans for this system are:

install Fedora 42
create some VM instances:
- RHEL 9/10
- CentOS Stream 9/10
put a Radeon RX 6700XT inside and check whether it would work
try to use it as a desktop
do some crazy experiments

All Linux systems will have both 4k and 64k page size kernels.