Gigabyte G292 Z22 GPU Server REVIEW | IT Creations

Hi there, Doug Stuman with IT Creations. Today we have another server from Gigabyte. The Gigabyte G292-Z22 GPU Server. It supports AMD’s 2nd or 3rd generation AMD EPYC processors with up to 64 physical cores and 128 virtual threads. This 2U, single-socket platform is designed for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, AI training, AI inference, scientific analysis, virtual desktop infrastructure, and you can install up to 8x double-wide GPUs. Let’s take a look… I’m going to start with confusion. There 7 of these G292 platforms… Watch the video!!
Gigabyte G292-Z22 GPU Server - Pricing
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Gigabyte G292-Z22 GPU Server - Manual
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[@haferman1]

We have a few of these... need to swap GPU cards... the lid has a diagram of how to pull out the card containers, it seems like just remove a screw and pull on the white loops, but they don't want to come out. Guess I will need to RTFM.

[@Itcreations-LA]

There may be a retaining clip right on the system board that you will need to release (squeeze or something…) before it will come out without force. Just an idea, we did this review a while ago… Can't remember all of the minute details hahahahah! Good luck and thanks for watching!

[@haferman1]

@@Itcreations-LA The manual does show it pretty clearly... for the rear GPUs, there are a couple of screws on the backside near the fan that need to be removed.

[@Itcreations-LA]

@@haferman1 it does indeed look pretty straight forward. Did you get them out?

[@haferman1]

@@Itcreations-LA I sure did... for anyone else that comes across this, the rear GPU riser units require removing the back fans, and there are two screws there. The front GPU riser units require removing the upper part of the lid (3 screws, then slide down to remove that part of the lid).

[@mamdouh-Tawadros]

Thank you, enjoyed it very much.

[@Itcreations-LA]

Our pleasure!

[@johnb3170]

Well I take it that 3080/3090ti are out of the mix since they require external power? I don't see a way to hook these up in this server

[@Itcreations-LA]

Hi John, There are a few things here that would not be good. First, the 3080/3090ti are consumer grade cards and not really designed for enterprise applications. They also feature active cooling, and I think this system is designed for passive cooled GPGPUs with it's internal and external fans providing a specific cooling profile. Those cards also suck up to 350W per card and this system is limited to 300W cards. Fit might be an issue too, although, Gigabyte does have a 3090 turbo version that probably would fit, it too has a high power draw. As far as external power, I am not able to determine if there are additional connectors on the system board but the cards themselves do come with power cables.

[@bjoerrrrn]

Can you specify an overall power draw of the server without any gpus added in idle?

[@Itcreations-LA]

If you know your configuration, we can provide an estimate of power consumption. I'll wait… Thanks for watching!

[@bjoerrrrn]

@@Itcreations-LA The Config im watching at is with an AMD EPYC 7402P CPU and 128GB RAM. Im interested in the idle power Draw without any GPU in it.

[@Itcreations-LA]

It will not include any NICs or drives and will only factor in the CPU and memory modules. If you're good with that, then good. I will give you a value shortly.

[@Itcreations-LA]

@@bjoerrrrn Have not forgotten… Answer coming soon.

[@Itcreations-LA]

@@bjoerrrrn And your answer: 750W DC 811W AC

[@frantisekpichnarcik9148]

Thank you and i have a question. Is it possible to use 8x Quadro P2000 or P2200 without external power?

[@Itcreations-LA]

Although these cards are not validated for this system and we have not tried them on this platform (disclaimer…), they should work without external power as they only require 75W of juice and this system can support 8x cards of up to 250W each (V100 (VOLTA) 16GB). BTW, I will also mention that the PSUs on this system are not redundant (2+0), and that is why all of these GPUs (8!) can be installed. Thanks for watching and commenting! Here are a few links. www.itcreations.com/gigabyte/gigabyte-g292-z22-gpu-server.asp download.gigabyte.com/FileList/QVL/server_system_qvl_G292-Z22_A01.pdf www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/design-visualization/quadro-product-literature/301941-DS-NV-Quadro-Pascal-P2000-US-03Feb17-NV-fnl-WEB.pdf www.nvidia.com/content/dam/en-zz/Solutions/design-visualization/productspage/quadro/quadro-desktop/quadro-p2200-datasheet-letter-974207-r4-web.pdf

[@altmindo]

What a weird machine - these huge fans in the back leave little space for pcie extension cards.

[@Itcreations-LA]

It is a strange machine but most of the PCIe slots are already taken anyways because of the 8x GPUs. Each GPU takes up a x16 PCIe lane for 128 total PCIe lanes, and then there are the 2x NVMe drives which also use a PCIe lane and the final two PCIe slots at the back of the system that are typically used for high-performance I/O. Without the PCIe switches, none of this would be possible. Thanks for watching!

[@Nick-tv5pu]

Lord, these SKUs are a mess!