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On September 18, 2018, Ampere said its eMAG Arm-based server processors were shipping to customers and partners, and that Lenovo and several ODMs had selected them. The announcement described a partnership to develop server platforms for hyperscale customers; it did not identify a specific Lenovo retail server or quantify Lenovo’s orders.
What Ampere announced
Ampere introduced eMAG as its first-generation 64-bit Armv8-A data-center processor. The company said the processors were shipping to customers and partners and named Lenovo among the organizations that had selected them. The release also identified several original design manufacturers (ODMs) as eMAG adopters, without naming them or stating shipment volumes. Ampere’s September 18, 2018 announcement is the source for these claims.
Lenovo’s role was more than simply reselling a chip. Paul Ju, then vice president and general manager of Hyperscale at Lenovo’s Data Center Group, said the companies had worked together for several months. The announcement described Lenovo’s customized-board and systems work for hyperscale customers, with the two companies planning servers designed for those customers.
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eMAG specifications at launch
The following are Ampere’s published specifications for the 32-core eMAG in 2018, not independently measured performance results.
#1 Best Overall
- Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 Mini Tower Server for Small Business and Remote Offices
- Processor: Intel Xeon E-2124 Quad-Core 3.3GHz 8MB CPU, Up To 4.3GHz Turbo
- Memory: 32GB DDR4 PC4-21300 2666MHz Unbuffered Memory
- Storage: 8TB (4 x 2TB) 6Gb/s SATA Hard Drives for High Capacity Storage; JBOD RAID
- Serial Com; VGA; USB 3.1 Gen 1; USB 3.1 Gen 2; 2 x 1GbE ports standard; 1 x 1GbE dedicated management port; Hard drives and memory upgrades included separately NOT installed, installation required.
| Specification | Ampere’s 2018 figure |
|---|---|
| CPU architecture | 64-bit Armv8-A |
| CPU cores | 32 Ampere-designed cores |
| Maximum turbo frequency | Up to 3.3 GHz |
| Memory | Eight DDR4-2667 memory controllers |
| Expansion I/O | 42 PCIe 3.0 lanes |
| Thermal design power | 125 W |
| Manufacturing process | TSMC 16 nm FinFET |
Ampere positioned eMAG for cloud workloads including big data, web-tier services and in-memory databases, as well as edge, storage and web applications. These were the company’s target-use claims, not evidence that eMAG outperformed a competing processor in those workloads.
Lenovo’s eMAG platform work
In an October 11, 2018 follow-up, Ampere said an eMAG-based Lenovo server platform was available for purchase to developers. The announcement also described developer forums and documentation, including an eMAG technical-readiness manual and a Linux kernel optimization guide. Ampere said it was working with software communities and projects such as OpenJDK, the Linux kernel, gcc/llvm and OpenBMC.
Rank #2
- Lenovo ThinkSystem ST50 Tower Server Bundle with Windows 2019 Operating System for Small Business and Remote Offices
- Processor: Xeon E-2124G Quad-Core 3.4GHz 8MB CPU, Up To 4.5GHz Turbo; Memory: 64GB DDR4 PC4-21300 2666MHz Unbuffered Memory
- Storage: 12TB (3 x 4TB) 6Gb/s SATA Hard Drives for High Capacity Storage; JBOD RAID
- Windows Server 2019 Standard, Retail
- Serial; DisplayPort; USB 3.1 Gen 1; USB 2.0; 1 x 1GbE ports standard; Hard drives and memory upgrades included separately NOT installed, installation required.
That follow-up establishes developer-platform availability at the time, not current stock or support. A Lenovo investor presentation hosted in 2019 reproduced Ampere CEO and chairman Renee James’s description of the partnership as a way to address cloud customers’ design, cost and performance requirements through Lenovo’s ODM+ capabilities. The presentation supplies additional context for the companies’ stated rationale.
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Ampere listed 2018 launch prices of $850 for the 32-core eMAG and $550 for the 16-core version, both with turbo frequency up to 3.3 GHz. These are historical announcement prices, not current quotes. The available announcements do not establish present-day availability, pricing, or Lenovo’s current eMAG portfolio.
Rank #3
- Lenovo ThinkSystem ST250 Tower Server Bundle with APC UPS Battery Backup for Small Business and Remote Offices
eMAG was not the later Ampere Altra
eMAG should not be confused with Ampere’s later Altra generation. In March 2020, Ampere described Altra with up to 80 single-threaded cores, DDR4-3200 memory, PCIe Gen4 and TSMC N7 process technology. Those specifications apply to Altra, not to the eMAG processors in Lenovo’s 2018 partnership announcement. Ampere’s Altra announcement documents that later product.
The 2018 launch material does not provide a like-for-like independent benchmark against named contemporary processors. ServeTheHome’s technical report offers additional secondary discussion of eMAG’s memory and I/O, but it is outlet reporting rather than Ampere’s own announcement. ServeTheHome’s eMAG report provides that context.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Lenovo ThinkStation P500 Tower Workstation
- Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 6-Core 2.4GHz (3.2GHz Turbo)
- 16GB DDR4 Memory
- 800GB SSD (Solid State Drive) + Nvidia Quadro NVS 300
- No Operating system included
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