The GIGABYTE MZ72-HB0 (Rev 3.0) Motherboard Review: Dual Socket 3rd Gen EPYC
by Gavin Bonshor on August 2, 2021 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Gigabyte
- GIGABYTE Server
- Milan
- EPYC 7003
- MZ720-HB0
Board Features
The GIGABYTE MZ72-HB0 is an E-ATX motherboard and it is versatile in functionality due to its dual SP3 sockets designed for AMD EPYC 7003 and 7002 processors. It can be installed into a regular chassis with E-ATX support, but most system setups using this model will likely be in 1U chassis, which is designed for server and rack deployment. It has plenty of PCIe support, with five full-length PCIe 4.0 slots in total, which can operate at x16/x16/x16/x8/x8. For storage, there are four 7-pin SATA connectors, one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, two SlimSAS PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe slots, and three SlimSAS ports which can accommodate either twelve SATA ports or three additional PCIe 4.0 NVMe devices. Memory support includes sixteen memory slots (eight per socket), with support for DDR4-3200 or DDR4-2933 memory, and can accommodate up to a maximum of 4 TB of RDIMM, LRDIMM, and 3DS varieties.
For cooling, there's a total of six 4-pin headers available, including two for CPU coolers, and four for chassis fans. It does include a TPM 2.0 header for users wishing to run the Windows 11 operating system, but users will need to purchase an additional module to use this function as it doesn't come included in the packaging.
| GIGABYTE MZ72-HB0 Rev 3.0 E-ATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $1060 | ||
| Size | E-ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | AMD SP3 | ||
| Chipset | AMD EPYC Gen 3 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Sixteen DDR4 Supporting 2TB per socket Octa-Channel LRDIMM/RDIMM/3DS Up to DDR4-3200 |
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| Video Outputs | 1 x D-Sub (ASPEED) | ||
| Network Connectivity | 2 x Broadcom BCM57416 10 GbE Base-T 1 x Management LAN (ASPEED) |
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| Onboard Audio | N/A | ||
| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 3 x PCIe 4.0 (x16/x16/x16) 2 x PCIe 4.0 (x8/x8) |
||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | N/A | ||
| Onboard SATA | 4 x 7-pin SATA 3 x SlimSAS (12 x SATA) |
||
| Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 2 x NVMe (SlimSAS 4i) 3 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (via SlimSAS) |
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| TPM 2.0 | Header (Optional TPM 2.0 kit available) | ||
| Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) | N/A | ||
| USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | N/A | ||
| USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) | N/A | ||
| USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) | 2 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 2 x USB Type-A (One header) |
||
| USB 2.0 | 2 x USB Type-A (One header) | ||
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU |
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| Fan Headers | 2 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin Chassis |
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| IO Panel | 2 x USB 3.0 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (ASPEED) 2 x RJ45 (Broadcom) 1 x Serial COM UID button with LED |
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Some of the connectivity options available include two 10 GbE ports which are controlled by a Broadcom BCM57416 controller, while USB options are limited to two USB 3.0 Type-A on the rear panel, and two USB 3.0 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports available from internal headers. The MZ72-HB0 does include BMC functionality, which is delivered by an ASPEED BMC controller and includes a Realtek RTLS5411E Management LAN port and a D-sub video output. For server and rack deployment, there's a UID button that includes a functional LED.
Test Bed
With some of the nuances with Intel's Rocket Lake processors, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults. Adaptive Boost Technology is disabled by default.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | 2 x AMD EYPC 7763, 280 W, $7890 64 Cores, 128 Threads 2.45 GHz (3.4 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | GIGABYTE MZ72-HB0 Rev 3.0 (BIOS 12.50.09) | ||
| Cooling | 2 x Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SPM | ||
| Power Supply | EVGA 1600 T2 80+ Titanium 1600 W | ||
| Memory | Micron 512 GB DDR4-3200 CL 22 (16 x 32 GB) | ||
| Video Card | N/A | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Open Testbed | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 20H2 | ||
We must also thank the following:
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Noctua Coolers |
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28 Comments
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Grayswean - Monday, August 2, 2021 - link
256 threads, 1024 bits of memory bus -- resembles a low-end GPU of ~5 years ago.Oxford Guy - Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - link
What ‘low-end’ GPUs came with more than a 128-bit memory bus?bananaforscale - Friday, August 6, 2021 - link
You need HBM to go past 1024 bits, or compute cards. Low end is 64 to 128 bit bandwidth, and consumer cards don't hit 1024.Oxford Guy - Sunday, August 15, 2021 - link
Consumer cards did ship with HBM, in 4096-bit (Fury-X) and 2048-bit (AMD’s HBM-2 cards) as I recall. However, none of those were priced for the low end.Threska - Monday, August 2, 2021 - link
"In terms of power, we measured a peak power draw at full load with dual 280 W processors of 782 W."Looks like a new PSU is in order. Add in things like a GPU might push things over the edge.
Threska - Monday, August 2, 2021 - link
" It does include a TPM 2.0 header for users wishing to run the Windows 11 operating system, but users will need to purchase an additional module to use this function as it doesn't come included in the packaging."I assume Windows 11 doesn't use any on-chip TPM.
https://semiaccurate.com/2017/06/22/amds-epyc-majo...
Mikewind Dale - Monday, August 2, 2021 - link
Why did you measure long idle differently? I agree it's interesting to measure power consumption while turned off. But why conflate that measurement with other systems that are turned on with idling OSes?And that DPC latency looks terrible. I see several other EPYC systems in the chart that don't have anywhere near that bad latency. In fact, the lowest latency in the chart is achieved by an ASRock EPYC.
watersb - Monday, August 2, 2021 - link
2 x $7500 = $15,000 for two EPYC processors16 x $3600 = $57,600 for 4TB RAM
$1000 each for power supply, motherboard
Throw in an EATX chassis I have lying around
$75,000 before sales tax or storage.
I'd have to run a dedicated 15-Amp circuit to my main breaker box, well within a 1500 Watt spec for a standard residential receptacle.
Probably want to upgrade the UPS.
$100k ought to do it.
Mikewind Dale - Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - link
Just run a 20 amp circuit. Most of the cost is labor anyway, not the wire. The difference between the cost of a 15A wire and a 20A wire is trivial.jhh - Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - link
A 15A 120V circuit will not do it in the US, as continuous loading of that circuit only supports 1440W of continuous service. 15A x 120V x 80% derating for continuous service is 1440W. On top of that, if the UPS is recharging after a power outage, that power diverted to the battery has to come out of the circuit as well. Perhaps a 240V 15A circuit would work better. Otherwise, you would need one of those strange 20A plugs to use the sideways position in a 20A receptacle.