Gigabyte MZ01-CE0 AMD EPYC Workstation Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. MZ01-CE0 (rev. 1.0): Board Layout and Features3. MZ01-CE0 (rev. 1.0): UEFI BIOS4. Testing Methodology and Configuration5. Tests: Maxon Cinebench R156. Tests: SiSoft Sandra7. Tests: Blender Gooseberry8. Tests: SPECviewperf 139. Tests: Disk Performance10. Closing Thoughts11. View All Pages

SPECviewperf 13

The SPECviewperf 13 benchmark is the worldwide standard for measuring graphics performance based on professional applications. The benchmark measures the 3D graphics performance of systems running under the OpenGL and Direct X application programming interfaces. The benchmark’s workloads, called viewsets, represent graphics content and behaviour from actual applications.

The latest version is SPECviewperf 13, released on May 23, 2018. SPECgpc members at the time of V13 release include AMD, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, Lenovo, and NVIDIA.

SPECviewperf 13 is a comprehensive upgrade of previous versions of the benchmark. Medical and energy viewsets incorporate new models and raycasting for volume visualization; the Maya viewset features new models based on the SPECapc for Maya 2017 benchmark; and the Creo viewset has been updated with fresh application traces. All other viewsets have been recompiled with minor changes. Results from SPECviewperf 13 are not comparable to those from earlier versions.

For this test, we only compared the Gigabyte setup to the Armari Magnetar S32-RD1000G2, as it was using the same AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 graphics.

The Gigabyte MZ01-CE0 and AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 combination is a little behind the Armari Magnetar S32T-RD1000G2 in most viewsets, although the more recent drivers in the MZ01-CE0 have shown improvements in medical-02 and showcase-02. The sw-04 SolidWorks viewset is quite sensitive to clock speed, so the EPYC 7551P is holding back the WX 9100 graphics a little here.

Clearly, the EPYC is not the best workstation platform if you're primarily focused on modelling, but it's also not that far behind its workstation-focused Threadripper sibling.

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