The Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860 is a 4-socket server that features a 4U rack design with support for GPUs, and is optimized for price and performance and best-in-class expandability. The SR860 now supports second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable Family processors, up to a total of four,  each with up to 28 cores. Using the same design as the 2U ThinkSystem SR850, the SR860’s agile design provides rapid upgrades for processors and memory, and its large, flexible storage capacity helps to keep pace with data growth.

Suggested uses: General business consolidation, data analytics, virtualization, database, dense computing and scientific applications

The flexible ThinkSystem SR860 server now supports second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable Gold or Platinum processors and can scale from two to four processors. Built for standard workloads like general business applications and server consolidation, it can also accommodate high-growth areas such as databases and virtualization. The ThinkSystem SR860’s agile design permits rapid upgrades for processors and memory, and its large, flexible storage capacity helps to keep pace with data growth.

With the capability to support up to 48 DIMMs, four sockets, mix-and-match internal storage with up to 16 drives, support for two high-performance GPUs, and a dedicated slot for Gigabit or 10 GbE networking, the SR860 provides unmatched features and capabilities in a 4U rack-mount design.

Scalability and performance

The SR860 offers numerous features to boost performance, improve scalability and reduce costs: 

• Supports second-generation Intel Xeon Processor Scalable processors
• Supports Gold and Platinum level processors in the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family. Processors supported have up to 28 cores, core speeds of up to 3.8GHz, and TDP ratings of up to 205W.
• The SR860’s processor mezzanine tray design enables you to start with two processors and 24 DIMM sockets and upgrade to four processors and 48 DIMM sockets when you need it, helping lower initial costs and manage growth.
• Up to four processors, 104 cores, and 208 threads maximize the concurrent execution of multithreaded applications.
• Intelligent and adaptive system performance with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 allows processor cores to run at maximum speeds during peak workloads by temporarily going beyond processor TDP.
• Intel Hyper-Threading Technology boosts performance for multithreaded applications by enabling simultaneous multithreading within each processor core, up to two threads per core.
• Intel Virtualization Technology integrates hardware-level virtualization hooks that allow operating system vendors to better use the hardware for virtualization workloads.
• Intel Speed Select Technology provides improvements in server utilization and guaranteed per-core performance service levels with more granular control over processor performance.
• Intel Deep Learning Boost (Vector Neural Network Instruction set or VNNI) is designed to deliver significant, more efficient Deep Learning (Inference) acceleration for high-performance Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads.
• Intel Advanced Vector Extensions 512 (AVX-512) enable acceleration of enterprise-class workloads, including databases and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
• Support for up to 48 TruDDR4 memory DIMMs operating at up to 2933 MHz means you have the fastest available memory subsystem and memory capacity of up to 6 TB using 48x 128 GB 3DS RDIMMs
• Supports 2933 MHz Performance+ memory DIMMs which allow configurations of 2 DIMMs per channel to operate at the 2933 MHz rated memory speed.
• Supports the new Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory; up to 24 Data Center Persistent Memory Modules (DCPMMs) can be installed in conjunction with regular system memory. DCPMMs are up to 512 GB each, for a total of up to 12 TB of Persistent Memory.
• The use of solid-state drives (SSDs) instead of, or along with, traditional spinning drives (HDDs), can improve I/O performance. An SSD can support up to 100 times more I/O operations per second (IOPS) than a typical HDD.
• Up to 16x 2.5-inch drive bays — supporting combinations of SAS or SATA HDDs, SAS or SATA SSDs, and NVMe PCIe SSDs — provide a flexible and scalable all-in-one platform to meet your increasing demands.
• Support for up to 8x NVMe PCIe SSDs in a 2.5-inch form factor maximizes drive I/O performance, in terms of throughput, bandwidth, and latency.
• New high-speed RAID controllers from Broadcom provide 12 Gb SAS connectivity to the drive backplanes. A variety of RAID adapters are available, with cache up to 4 GB and support for 16 drives on a single controller.
• Support for two high-performance GPUs up to 300W each. GPUs adds additional processing power to the server.
• Supports the Lenovo patented-design M.2 adapter for convenient operating system boot functions. Available M.2 adapters support either one M.2 drive or two M.2 drives in a RAID 1 configuration for boot drive performance and reliability.
• The server has a dedicated flexible LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) slot, supporting a variety of 10 GbE or Gigabit Ethernet adapters that do not occupy one of the standard PCIe slots.
• A total of up to 13 PCIe slots: 11 general-purpose PCIe 3.0 slots plus slots dedicated to the LOM adapter and the M.2 adapter.
• The server offers PCI Express 3.0 I/O expansion capabilities that improve the theoretical maximum bandwidth by almost 100% (8 GTps per link using 128b/130b encoding) compared to the previous generation of PCI Express 2.0 (5 GTps per link using 8b/10b encoding).