AMD EPYC Dell vendor locking

Computer Hardware & Server Infrastructure Builds
1

I am sure some of you are already aware of this, if you boot any AMD EYPC processor in a compatible Dell Server, it becomes vendor locked by blowing a fuse within the processor.

Like many I wasn’t until a few days ago, my school fees to learn this lesson was to lock a 7282 EPYC pressor to dell ($800). Whilst spending many hours trying to resolve an “error 22” on a ASRock ROMED8-2T mainboard with 2 processors that had been booted in a Dell Server another $1000 plus of lost revenue.

Thanks to the following article I now have a full understanding of the issue.

I would be great if Tom could mention this in a suitable video. As I sure it will catch out more people in the future as they become more affordable for test labs. Sorry if you already have mentioned and I’ve missed it.

2

I caught that in one of their videos, I am not really happy about this, they could have soft locked things and required a physical switch to unlock it for an upgrade/replacement. If someone has physical access to the inside of your server, they pretty much own it and no amount of security will save you in the long run.

I won’t be buying DELL servers in the future unless they allow me to do what I may need to do.