ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T vs Supermicro M11SDV-8CT-LN4F

The ROMED8-2T is a full ATX EPYC platform built for expansion: six PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, eight DDR4 slots and support for high-core EPYC chips make it the pick for GPU rigs, storage servers and virtualization hosts. The Supermicro M11SDV is the opposite trade: a 6.7-inch Mini-ITX board with a soldered 8-core EPYC 3201, four DIMMs and one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, so it fits small, quiet, low-power boxes. Owners of the ASRock praise the six full-speed x16 lanes but call the BIOS menu overcomplicated; the Supermicro is simpler and sips power, but you cannot upgrade the CPU or add cards.

• Choose the ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T if you need many PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, a socketed EPYC CPU and room to grow memory past 256 GB.
• Choose the Supermicro M11SDV-8CT-LN4F if you want a compact, low-power 8-core server board with four LAN ports that drops into a Mini-ITX case.