AMD Opteron A1120 socket: SP1

What the Opteron A1120 is

The Opteron A1120 brings Seattle to SP1 for storage and web nodes with DDR4. It launched on January 14, 2016 with four Cortex-A57 cores at 1.7 GHz and 25 W. AMD targets cold racks that need ARM threads with ECC and rich I/O on one chip.

Two megabytes of shared L2 plus 8 MB of shared L3 carry file tables and caches. The fixed clock suits predictable serving loads. Four threads cover request handlers plus background scrubbing.

There is no integrated GPU, so serial and network manage the node. The process is 28 nm at GlobalFoundries. The multiplier is locked. DDR3L and DDR4 with ECC in two channels feed cores with up to 1866 MT/s on DDR4.

Buyers choose the board at order time with memory size and network tier. The 25 W rating suits dense shelves with shared airflow. TrustZone and crypto units help secure boot where policy calls for it.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The Opteron A1120 is soldered to the board on SP1 and cannot be replaced. Upgrading means replacing the board or the whole node, so choose core count and I/O at purchase. Boards pair the SoC with RDIMM slots for ECC and SFP cages for 10 Gb links.

SP1 boards wire PCIe 3.0, SATA and Ethernet per server design. FT3 embedded boards cannot take this BGA chip. The LGA, PGA and BGA: CPU package types explained guide explains soldered server packages.

Single socket nodes are the deployment. Growth means more SP1 nodes rather than a chip swap. Service follows the board manual for heatsinks and chassis airflow.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

DDR3L and DDR4 with ECC in two channels suit storage nodes with many disks. DDR4 at 1866 MT/s lifts file throughput. Start with 32 GB for object stores.

PCIe 3.0 with 8 lanes from the SoC serves HBAs and NICs per board layout. The SoC adds 14 SATA 6 Gb/s ports and dual 10 Gb Ethernet on reference designs. Network boot trims local disk needs.

Cooling has no retail mount pattern because the SoC is soldered lidless. Vendors design heatsinks for 25 W classes with front to back airflow. Keep filters clean where racks run continuously.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket, the AMD Opteron A1150 doubles to eight cores at 1.7 GHz for thread heavy stores. The AMD Opteron A1170 lifts to 2.0 GHz for faster request handling. Both share SP1 boards and DDR4.

x86 Opteron X2170 nodes stay on FT3 with DDR3 for embedded control. They require different boards and software builds.

Past ARM test racks move to later EPYC or developer boards. The A1120 covers 2016 storage nodes where four ARM cores with ECC must run at 25 W.