It's unfortunate that they have built in USB 3.0 controllers rather than 3.1, especially given that Thunderbolt wont be available with AMD based systems.
AMD likely started designing Epyc before USB 3.1 was standardized. I don't think that it will hold anything back, as 3.1 controllers/ports can be provided by the chipset instead.
I hadn't been aware that Thunderbolt wouldn't be available on AMD systems... indeed my understanding was that Intel's release of Thunderbolt royalty-free open specs opened the path for inclusion by anybody. Was I wrong?
That spec opening was only announced a month ago. It's not going to be open until next year[0], far too late for inclusion into silicon that's probably being manufactured right now.
[0] "In addition to Intel’s Thunderbolt silicon, next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license." https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/envision-world-thunder...
Not just server hardware. The single socket versions will be used for workstations. USB 3.1 would have allowed use of the new high-end external storage systems. Luckily USB 3.0 is still kind of fast.
Also, not all servers are set up to be controlled from some remote point. I bet some of these servers will need at least one USB port to install the OS in some smaller installations.
The AM4 socket that accepts the new non-APU Ryzen chips has support for the eventual APUs that will be released. All AM4 motherboards have display options built-in AFAIK, Neweggs shows the majority have HDMI ports on board but some have DisplayPort. AMD will eventually release the APUs probably under the Ryzen 3 brand.
My favorites:
* Cortex A-5 security/boot processor
* High throughput I/O (I always thought QPI was a great improvement over HT, seems like they've gone one further)
* 290GB/s memory controller (excellent for algorithms that need to span many many GB and can't fit into a GPU)
Clever bit, comparing against Bulldozer in places where they can't beat Xeon.
All in all, looks like the competition has truly heated up.