System76 Thelio Astra Reviewed: High-End ARM64 Developer Desktop
System76 is announcing one of their most innovative and interesting products going back to their Launch Configurable Keyboard and HP Dev One collaboration: the System76 Thelio Astra. The Thelio Astra is a high-end ARM64 desktop system geared for developers with a focus on AI / STEM / self-driving technologies and powered by Ampere Computing and NVIDIA.
The System76 Thelio Astra is a custom-built ARM64 developer desktop designed for developers working on autonomous driving, automotive safety systems, software-defined vehicles, AI, and other areas where developers may be deploying to AArch64-based platforms/devices and wanting a desktop that is also AArch64 native to ease in the development and testing experience. The Thelio Astra provides a native AArch64 software experience without having to rely on emulation from x86_64 to ARM, deploying to an ARM-based cloud for testing, or resorting to typically slower on-device testing.
System76 designed the Thelio Astra in collaboration with Ampere Computing. The System76 Thelio Astra makes use of Ampere Altra processors up to the Ampere Altra Max 128-core ARMv8 processor that in turn supports 8-channel DDR4 ECC memory. The Thelio Astra can be configured with up to 512GB of system memory, choice of Ampere Altra processors, up to NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Generation graphics, dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and up to 16TB of PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage. System76 designed the Thelio Astra ARM64 workstation to be complemented by NVIDIA graphics given the pervasiveness of NVIDIA GPUs/accelerators for artificial intelligence and machine learning workloads.
The Astra is contained within System76's custom-designed, in-house-manufactured Thelio chassis. Pricing on the System76 Thelio Astra will start out at $3,299 USD with the 64-core Ampere Altra Q64-22 processor, 2 x 32GB of ECC DDR4-3200 memory, 500GB NVMe SSD, and NVIDIA A402 graphics card. While a starting price of $3,299 may seem expensive for a desktop, simply buying an ASRock Rack micro-ATX motherboard with Ampere Altra Q64-22 combo goes for $1,434 as a starting price not to mention the memory, GPU, storage, and well-engineered cooling and chassis along with assembly and System76 technical support. The pricing for this physical ARM64 high-end desktop is also favorable compared to the ongoing cloud costs if relying on cloud instances to otherwise complete your ARM64 software builds, CI/CD, and other ARM64 testing remotely in the cloud -- with the Thelio Astra it can be more easily achieved on-premise in this quiet desktop system.
Of course, the System76 Thelio Astra isn't limited to ADAS / SDV / AV / AI / ML workloads but can be used for any other task as well where you are seeking speedy ARM64 Linux development. For instance, Linux creator Linus Torvalds for a number of months now has been doing more ARM64 Linux testing with an Ampere Altra Max workstation. Hell you can just use this as a glorified Linux desktop if really trying to avoid x86_64 or similar reasons for choosing ARM.
The other major OEMs/ODMs offering Ampere Altra products have focused on servers. So even four years after Ampere Altra first appeared, the System76 Thelio Astra is the first major ARM64 Linux desktop readily available and using these high core count ARMv8 processors. There have been various Ampere Altra motherboards from the like of ASRockRack, Altra-compatible heatsinks from Noctua, and other similar hardware for those wanting to build their own Ampere desktop/workstation but now it's conveniently available as a ready-to-ship developer desktop from System76. Compared to Ampere Altra servers, the Thelio Astra is designed to be very quiet during operation so that it can comfortably run beside your desk or similar.
Arguably System76 should have launched this years ago. With Ampere Altra being in the marketplace for four years now it's too bad that this developer desktop wasn't out two or even three years ago. Similarly, AmpereOne is now "available" for the latest-generation ARM64 processors from Ampere Computing but availability is very limited still, higher pricing, and the AmpereOne line-up is currently focused on just the higher core count models without any offerings below 96 cores. So it's a bit awkward launching a brand new developer desktop at the end of 2024 that still is relying on DDR4 memory and PCIe Gen 4, etc. But even still, the System76 Thelio Astra does still offer competitive performance and especially power efficiency in most areas -- plus for lack of any real ARM64 high-end desktops from other vendors, it's really in a class of its own.
I have been running a System76 Thelio Astra in the lab already for a lot of benchmarking and analysis. Continue on in exploring this unique ARM64 high-end developer desktop.