System76 Thelio Astra Reviewed: High-End ARM64 Developer Desktop Review (2025)

Written by Michael Larabel in Computers on 22 October 2024 at 11:00 AM EDT. Page 6 of 6. 21 Comments.

Both System76 desktops/workstations have their advantages. The System76 Thelio Astra worked out well for power efficiency and in cases where the developer is explicitly needing an ARM/ARM64 system. There really isn't any competition to the System76 Thelio Astra as far as a high-end assembled ARM64 desktop unless building a system on your own or resorting to a (likely noisy and rackmount) conventional ARM server.

It's surprising and a bit unfortunate though that such a system wasn't launched by System76 in years prior given the maturity of the Ampere Altra platform. Hopefully System76 is also able to offer an AmpereOne-based solution when the processor availability improves there for those wanting a more recent AArch64 processor design, DDR5 memory, PCIe Gen5, etc.

Across the span of running dozens of benchmarks on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, the Ampere Altra 128-core processor had a 138 Watt average and 252 Watt peak compared to the Threadripper 7980X with a 265 Watt average and a 361 Watt peak. The Ampere Altra power efficiency continues to be in good shape years later.

The System76 Thelio chassis was able to effectively cool the 128-core Ampere Altra ARM processor without being noisy. While one may buy an Ampere Altra server if wanting a local development system, they tend to not be optimized for noise. The System76 Thelio Astra allowed the Ampere Altra M128-30 to run at full performance without being really noisy -- absolutely quiet compared to the typical noise of a 2U or 4U server under load. The Thelio Astra had an average CPU temperature of 61 degrees and a peak of 77 degrees.

Other monitored hardware components were all in good shape thermally without any problems. The past few years have proven the System76 Thelio design to be robust and capable even for high-end desktop hardware.

The Ampere Altra M128-30 had no troubles within the System76 Thelio Astra chassis/cooling keeping up with its 3.0GHz peak frequency.

For those wondering about total AC "wall power" power consumption, here are the results for the System76 Thelio Astra for this configuration with the 128-core processor, 8 x 32GB DDR4 memory, and NVIDIA A400 graphics... Obviously with different configurations your wall power readings will differ. The wall power of the System76 Thelio Astra 128 core was around 227 Watt on average during load with a recorded peak of just 384 Watts... Not bad for 128 physical CPU cores and 256GB of RAM. For when this ARM64 desktop is idle, the wall power was just about 80 Watts.

It's wonderful seeing System76 offering a pre-assembled, high-end ARM64 desktop catering to developers. The Thelio Astra comes within a beautifully crafted chassis that is also very quiet during full load -- both attributes that can't be said if trying to re-task an Ampere Altra 2U/4U rackmount server for desktop/development purposes. With up to 128 cores and 8-channel memory, the Ampere Altra platform offers a lot of potential for high-end desktop/workstation purposes and allowing for speedy code compilation, running demanding ARM64 software, and other tasks or multi-tasking. The Ampere Altra platform is now four years old but still holding decent CPU performance and remains competitive in power efficiency. With the lack of any other ARM64 on-premise hardware providers unless counting the likes of the more expensive NVIDIA Grace, there really isn't any alternatives in the same class to Ampere Altra until AmpereOne availability improves and if they end up offering any lower core count (below 96 cores) AmpereOne CPUs.

For those wanting a high-end ARM desktop/workstation particularly for developers, there really is no better choice right now than the System76 Thelio Astra. With using an ASRock Rack motherboard the system is solid and with the age of the Ampere Altra platform the Linux (and FreeBSD) software compatibility is mature and also allows for running nicely outside the confines of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS if so desired. Pricing on the Thelio Astra starts out at $3,299 USD and these ARM64 developer desktops will be available for pre-ordering at System76.com. As noted earlier in the article, the pricing is competitive compared to other workstation pricing and considering the costs of assembling an Ampere Altra (Max) server on your own. The System76 Thelio Astra build quality is great, the chassis design and cooling allows for very quiet operation compared to a conventional server, and all-around a robust offering for a high-end ARM Linux desktop.

More System76 Thelio Astra tests/benchmarks to come on Phoronix over the coming weeks. The System76 Thelio Astra pre-sale page is launching today on System76.com while these ARM64 desktops will officially be going on sale beginning on 12 November. Thanks to System76 supplying this Thelio Astra review sample for launch-day testing and benchmarking at Phoronix.

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