Dell PowerEdge R6625 Server Review
July 22, 2024The Dell PowerEdge R6625 server (SHOP HERE) is one of Dell’s 16th generation platforms. Nobody cares about the generation anymore, just pop in a new processor and call it a day! Thankfully each generation for Dell does include a slight reference number change. In this case the 15th generation R6525 is now the R6625. See what they did there with that second digit? This one has dual 4th generation AMD EPYC CPUs with CPUs that can provide up to 128 cores of high-performance goodness, each. It’s based off next-gen Zen4 architecture, and even the next gen Zen4c architecture for AMDs recent EPYC CPU release. That would be like the 4th generation and a half…
At 1U, the Dell PowerEdge R6625 is the smaller sibling to the 2U Dell PowerEdge R7625, which we also reviewed. If this was an Intel based system, it would be the R760 which has dual 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Yeah, we did that one too.
What all of these platforms have in common is support for DDR5 memory modules and PCIe 5.0, not to mention significantly improved compute performance and more cores.
The AMD EPYC 9754 with 128 cores and 256 threads, and another one, the EPYC 9754S, which appears to be single threaded with 128 cores but only 128 threads. AMD boasts the best data center CPUs, with the world records to prove it! Those would be in energy efficiency, business applications including Fintech and digital rendering, plus data management and analytics, Infrastructure and data management.
AMD also released 3x new EPYC SKUs that include the 2nd generation 3D V-Cache technology. Remember the initial release during the 3rd Gen Milan era? 3D V-Cache provided a 3-fold increase in L3 cache from the almost standard 256MB to 768MB. That additional L3 cache improved performance for specific applications. Those last four applications in the list, Electronic Design Automation, Computational Fluid Dynamics and the others were really played up when first released. This list is still valid but now offer even better performance for these applications with 2nd gen 3D V-Cache technology.
The 9684X, offers a 4.5-fold increase in L3 Cache from the almost standard 256MBs of cache on the general processors to 1,152MB of L3 Cache. With that amount of L3 cache, you get vastly improved data cueing at the CPU for faster results, instead of waiting all of those nanoseconds for retrieval from up front storage. Getting a little off track here. We are talking about the Dell PowerEdge R6625 server but that said, this platform would not be quite as impressive without those AMD EPYC CPUs.
The front of the chassis features the same control panel and tell-tale lights as found on the R7625. On the right a control panel with a system health button that can also be paired with an iDRAC Quick Sync 2 button for use with a smart phone or tablet and the OpenManage mobile app. Beside those, status LEDs to help identify failed hardware at a glance, including drives, temperature, electrical, memory and PCIe. Green is good, solid amber indicates you have a problem. We will point out that iDRAC Quick Sync 2 is only supported on certain configurations.
On the right, a VGA port, USB port, Micro-AB USB iDRAC Direct port, iDRAC Direct status LED and the power ON button.
Once we remove the LCD enabled bezel, plenty of options once again for storage. The most interesting storage option is support for up to 16x E3.S drives, which surprisingly don’t provide the highest capacity compared to standard implementations using SATA, SAS or NVMe with the 12x bay 2.5-inch disk configuration. There is also a 14x bay E3.S version. Both E3.S options are used as direct drives for a host server.
A 3.5-inch bay chassis with 4x bays along the bottom has room for an optional optical device on the left side. That one only supports SATA or SAS drives, and the later only with a SAS controller card. 2.5-inch drive options include either an 8-bay chassis or 10-bay option, which will completely cover the front of the system with drive bays.
On the back of the system, there are dual redundant PSUs with varying wattages, depending on how the system is loaded up. If in need of additional storage, there is an option to install either 2x 2.5-inch drive bays or 2x of those E3.S drives.
An optional Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem or BOSS can be installed on the far right of the system. Surprisingly our system came with the BOSS. This is the BOSS-N1. It features one or two M.2 storage devices that feature a RAID 0 with just one M.2. or with 2x M.2 drives it can be used in a mirrored RAID1. The BOSS is simply used to boot the system, leaving the upfront and rear drive bays available for storage. Along the bottom of the chassis are the flexible I/O options including a LAN on motherboard with 2x 1GbE ports in that first one.
Next to that is an OCP card mezzanine slot that can support several different OCP 3.0 cards with different port configurations and link speeds. It’s easily removeable from the back of the system and connects to a PCIe 5.0 x8 slot. It will also extend the network controller options, while preserving the limited PCIe slots.
Although, you can still install additional PCIe based network controllers in one of the 3x PCIe slots above. An I/O panel with a dedicated iDRAC Ethernet port also has a USB 2.0 port on top, USB 3.0 port, and a VGA port. That VGA port is optional. The system comes standard with air cooling but an alternate configuration includes optional Direct Liquid Cooling, or DLC. The tubes which would the chassis where that VGA port is currently located.
We will mention that the previous generation, the R6525, only supported Linux-based operating systems but with this one you get Windows Server, plus those Linux based operating systems and VMware.
There are several ways to manage the system at chassis or remotely. The dedicated RJ45 iDRAC Ethernet port on the back. The micro-USB iDRAC direct port on the front right server ear where you can also connect a monitor, and the optional Quick Sync 2, which will enable you to access the system from a smart phone or tablet after you download and install the OpenManage mobile app. This system supports iDRAC 9.0 Direct for remote management of the system. However, it can be upgraded to support iDRAC Enterprise or Data Center. OpenManage Enterprise and the OpenManage Power Manager can also be included for managing multiple systems and is also available in varying licensing levels depending on your infrastructure needs.
Once we pop the cover off, you can see the layout with Drives up front, the backplane, an area where there might be a front PERC controller just in front of the 4x dual fan modules. Again, options for PERC or PowerEdge RAID Controllers, with HBAs, just internal controllers or using the integrated S160 controller. Then the CPUs and memory modules and the PCIe slots in back. The NIC ports, OCP card, and that I/O board are all separate circuit boards that can be removed, replaced or upgraded as necessary. Although, the OCP card is the only one accessible from the back that doesn’t entail removing the entire motherboard to replace.
There are 3x PCIe risers for up to 3x PCIe Gen5 slots, all x16 and either Full-height or low-profile depending on which risers you choose to install. And you do have choices, even an option with no risers.
Additional NICs and hard drive controllers can be installed in the risers depending on the application. You will need to install a PERC if you plan on running SAS drives. The Dell PowerEdge R6625 came with a 12th generation Dell PERC H9651 Front. It mounts just behind the hard drives and can RAID SATA, SAS or NVMe drives with a full range of RAID options. But again, there are other options for HD Controllers too. Keep in mind, if the optional hard drive cages for either 2x 2.5-inch drives or 2x E3.S drives are installed that will detract from the number of available PCIe slots.
Depending on which risers are installed, the system will accept up to 2x 75W single-wide GPU, FPGA, or accelerators. GPUs with that wattage profile include the NVIDIA A2 and the tried-and-true NVIDIA T4. That NVIDIA A2 GPU actually just uses between 40 and 60W and features Ampere architecture.
Those CPUs we went on and on about reside in a new socket so those previous generations of EPYC CPUs Naples, Rome, and Milan are not compatible. CPUs of up to 400W are supported, opening the door for perhaps more options in the future. The processor interconnect is now twice as fast at 32GT/s compared to only 16GT/s on the previous generation. So, in addition to all those improved cores featuring Zen 4 architecture, it’s quite clear there are significant performance gains. From memory too. While the new R6625 has only 24x memory module slots compared to the R6525’s 32x memory module slots. Of course, the previous generation only had 8x memory channels to work with and now with 9004-series Genoa AMD EPYC CPUs—12-memory channel architecture. And with DDR5 RDIMMs, a 60% increase in speed at 4800MT/s over DDR4 memory speeds. Only RDIMM memory modules are supported.
The Dell PowerEdge R6625 is a flexible platform for a number of applications and offers several storage configurations. But if you need more storage, the Dell PowerEdge R7625 provides up to 26x 2.5-inch drive bays plus support for double-wide, high-performance GPUs. Both are considered workhorse platforms in Dell’s enterprise lineup, and highly configurable for a number of applications.
If you have any comments or questions on this platform or any other, post them in the comments section below. Need something else? Check out our website!
