TREADLAYERS.COM: SUPERMICRO X8DA3

SUPERMICRO X8DA3

The Motherboard

The X8DA3 follows the same EATX form factor as with previous dual-Xeon boards. The arrangement shows the staggered socket and DIMM layout. In the retail package, SAS, SATA, 1394, and FDD cables are included. Nice comprehensive User Manual, software CD, and colored I/O shield also included:

Here are the official specs from Supermicro:

Key Features

1. Dual Intel® 5500 series Xeon® Quad/
Dual-Core, with QPI up to 6.4 GT/s

2. Intel® 5520 (Tylersburg) Chipset

3. Up to 96GB DDR3 1333/ 1066/ 800MHz
ECC Registered DIMM / 24GB
Unbuffered DIMM

4. Intel® 82573V/L Dual-port Gigabit
Ethernet Controller

5. LSI 1068E 8-Port SAS Controller;
RAID 0, 1, 10; RAID 5 optional

6. 6x SATA2 (3 Gbps) Ports via
ICH10R Controller

7. 2 (x16) PCI-E 2.0,
1 (x4) PCI-E (in x 8 slot),
3x PCI 33MHz slots

8. Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD Audio

9. 2x IEEE 1394a Headers

10. IPMI 2.0 (SIMLC) Slot


Product SKUs

MBD-X8DA3 -O	X8DA3 (Standard Retail Pack)
MBD-X8DA3 -B	X8DA3 (Bulk Pack)


Physical Stats

Form Factor	Extended ATX
Dimensions	12" x 13" (30.5cm x 33cm)


Processor/Cache

CPU	Dual 1366-pin LGA Sockets Supports up to two Intel® 64-bit Xeon® processor(s) of the same type below: Quad-Core Intel® Xeon®Processor 5500 sequence (Nehalem-EP processor)
QPI	up to 6.4 GT/s


System Memory

Memory Capacity	12x 240-pin DIMM sockets Supports up to 96 GB 1333 / 1066 / 800MHz DDR3 ECC Registered memory Supports up to 24 GB 1333 / 1066 / 800MHz DDR3 ECC Unbuffered memory Memory Mirroring supported
Memory Type	1333 / 1066 / 800MHz ECC Registered / ECC Unbuffered DDR3 SDRAM 72-bit, 240-pin gold-plated DIMMs
DIMM Sizes	1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
Memory Voltage	1.5 V
Error Detection	Corrects single-bit errors Detects double-bit errors (using ECC memory) Supports Intel® x4 and x8 Single Device Data Correction (SDDC)


On-Board Devices

Chipset	Intel® 5520 (Tylersburg) chipset ICH10R + IOH-36D
SAS	LSI SAS1068E RAID 0, 1, 10 support (Optional: AOC-IButton68) RAID 5 support
SATA	Intel ICH10R SATA 3.0Gbps Controller RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
IPMI	Support for Intelligent Platform Management Interface v.2.0 / 1.5 200-pin IPMI slot (SIMLC) (Optional: AOC-SIMLC)
Network Controllers	Intel® 82573V & 82573L Gigabit Ethernet Controller Supports 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T, RJ45 output
Audio	Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD audio
Super I/O	Winbond 83627HF chip


Input / Output

SAS	8 SAS / SATA ports
Serial ATA	Six Serial ATA ports Six SATA hard drives supported
Floppy	1 Floppy controller; 1.44 MB
LAN	2x RJ45 LAN ports
USB	4x USB rear ports 2x USB on-board 4x USB internal headers Total 10 USB 2.0 Compliant
Audio	Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD audio
Keyboard / Mouse	PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
Serial Port	2 Fast UART 16550 serial ports


Chassis ( Optimized for X8DA3 )

2U Chassis	CSE-213A-R900LPB CSE-216A-R900LP CSE-216E1-R900LP CSE-216E2-R900LP CSE-823MTQ-R700LP CSE-825MTQ-R700LPB CSE-825TQ-560LPV CSE-825TQ-R700LPV CSE-826TQ-R800LPV
3U Chassis	CSE-833T-550 CSE-833T-650 CSE-833T-R760 CSE-835TQ-R800B CSE-836E1-R800V CSE-836E2-R800V CSE-836TQ-R800V CSE-933E1-R760 CSE-933E2-R760 CSE-933T-R760 CSE-936A-R900B
Tower / 4U Rackmount	CSE-743i-645 CSE-743i-650 CSE-743i-R760 CSE-743T-645 CSE-743T-650 CSE-743T-R760 CSE-743TQ-865-SQ CSE-743TQ-865B CSE-743TQ-R760 CSE-745TQ-800 CSE-745TQ-R800B CSE-846E1-R900B
Important Chassis Notes	To ensure system stability, a 550W (minimum) ATX power supply [Two 8-pin (+12V) and 24-pin are required]


Expansion Slots

PCI-Express	2 (x16) PCI-E 2.0 slots 1 (x4) PCI-E (in x8 slot)
PCI	3x 33MHz PCI slots


System BIOS

BIOS Type	32Mb SPI Flash EEPROM with AMI® BIOS
BIOS Features	Plug and Play (PnP) PCI 2.2 ACPI up to 3.0 USB Keyboard support


Management

Software	Optional IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 2.0 / 1.5 Super Doctor III
Power Configurations	ACPI / ACPM Power Management


PC Health Monitoring

CPU	Monitors for CPU Cores, +1.8V, +3.3V, +5V, +12V, +3.3V Standby, +5V Standby, VBAT, Memory, Chipset Voltages. 6-Phase-switching voltage regulator
FAN	Total of eight fan headers supporting up to 8 fans Eight 4-pin fan headers 8x fans with tachometer status monitoring Support 3-pin fans (w/o speed control) Low noise fan speed control (4-pin fan only)
Temperature	Monitoring for CPU and chassis environment Thermal Control for 8x fan connectors PECI
Other Features	Chassis intrusion detection Chassis intrusion header


Operating Environment / Compliance

RoHS	RoHS Compliant 6/6, Pb Free
Environmental Spec.	Operating Temperature: 10° to 35° C (50° to 95°F) Non-operating Temperature: -40° to 70° C (-40° to 158° F) Operating Relative Humidity: 8% to 90% (non-condensing) Non-operating Relative Humidity: 5 to 95% (non-condensing)

Although no longer popular for mainstream use, the presence if 1394 ports make it easy to connect DVRs and video cameras. The presence of HD Audio proves that this is a workstation board too, not just a server board. SAS on-board and well-thought out slot arrangement makes adding cards easy. Supermicro's UIO slot is shown at the bottom. PATA is absent here, which is no big deal, but some of us still have legacy optical drives. SAS on-board is EXCELLENT. Mini-SAS connectors on the lower right side facing sideways is a superb decision. Internal USB ports instead of headers make it easy to connect front-panel USB devices, but may be a hassle for those that use the header connectors.

X8DA3 with memory and heatsinks. More on those later, but note the left side heatsink orientation. It had to be rotated for it not to interfere with the graphics card...