Building a Cutting-Edge DIY NAS Server with AMD EPYC 9634 and GIGABYTE MZ33-AR0

InfiltratorNJ · December 3, 2024, 10:47am

It’s been a few years since I last dove into the world of cutting-edge server CPUs and motherboards, but I recently came across what seemed like an irresistible deal on Aliexpress:

GIGABYTE MZ33-AR0 (REV.1.0) motherboard
AMD EPYC 9634 CPU (84 cores, 168 threads, 2.25GHz)
2x64GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM

ALIEXPRESS bundle
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807577514730.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.2bb31802ngAMU3&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa
All this for just $172 w/ shipping!

I’ll be documenting my progress as I embark on this exciting DIY server build. I’ll share photos, benchmarks, and detailed notes as I test, configure, and deploy this hardware. My goal is to create a versatile server for [insert your purpose: NAS, virtualization, AI workloads, etc.].

Stay tuned—I’ll post updates and links to the parts and resources I use throughout this journey. Let’s see if this setup lives up to its promise!

Have any of you worked with the AMD EPYC 9634 or this motherboard? I’d love to hear your tips, experiences, or suggestions.

TryTwiceMedia · December 3, 2024, 2:02pm

Done this build

That RAM is not gonna give you the performance you want.

You need to populate all 12 memory channels for EPYC CPU’s to fully perform. 16GB DIMMs are the smallest compatible, so you have 192 Gigs, but the CPU and memory benchmarks will be on par with Phoronix and PassMark.

With only 2 DIMMs, we saw a 20% drop in CPU benchmarks.

With all 24 DIMMs populated, we saw an 8% drop. Only having 12 DIMMs did we get full performance.

THAT’s NOT THE BUNDLE

that’s just the cooler

The full bundle is $11,000