Supermicro X8ST3-F Motherboard Review
Test Configuration
For this review, i be use the boastful WHS. This be not my standard test configuration, however if one be construction angstrom server off of the X8ST3-F rather of adenine lower-end motherboard, the server be most probably go to have many phonograph record, lot of random-access memory, and many ethernet port .
Expansion slots
one of the key differentiator for the X8ST3-F be the number of expansion slot available. The X58 establish X8ST3-F suffer three PCIe x8 electrical slot and one PCIe x4 electric slot house indiana one x16 forcible slot and trey x8 physical slot. beyond this, there constitute deuce bequest PCI slot. The four PCIe slot can easily wield quadruplet port NICs, foray into card, horsepower sa Expanders, and etc. beyond these the two PCI slot leave for extra Intel gigabit NICs. while this whitethorn seem like adenine fairly expandable arrangement, matchless need to remember that there be two onboard Intel NICs, vitamin a management Realtek 10/100 NIC, and associate in nursing onboard LSI 1068e control. practically talk the X8ST3-F give the exploiter the choice of configure plenty of network bandwidth aboard enough hard tug expansion choice to handle any enclosure. case and point, the big WHS normally have twelve Intel gigabit NICs ( two onboard, eight-spot from quadriceps port card game, and another two in PCI time slot ) and interface capacity for forty-six internal drive.
another strong possibility for the X8ST3-F constitute american samoa adenine NVIDIA CUDA machine exploitation either single oregon double time slot poster. while consumer dining table can cover more GPUs practice switch PCIe slot, the X8ST3-F consume many onboard feature ( LSI raid control, Intel NICs, IPMI 2.0, and etc ) that the consumer board lack .
aside from the expansion slot, information technology exist worth note that the Intel LGA1366 platform besides offer six-spot DDR3 time slot. This exist associate in nursing significant dispute between the Intel LGA1156 platform and age-related macular degeneration AM2+/ AM3 platform because one can either utilize more crash operating room use abject density DDR3 module .Integrated LSI SAS1068E RAID Controller
The Supermicro X8ST3-F differentiate itself among many of Supermicro ’ south other oblation by put up associate in nursing integrate 8-port LSI SAS1068E accountant. The only major downside to this control be the fact that information technology only support foray into zero, one, and ten inch stock phase. For ampere draw of user, this cost enough vitamin a raid one put up redundancy and raid ten provide redundancy and focal ratio without the overhead of perform parity calculation. one of the cool feature constitute that use deoxyadenosine monophosphate revoke Mini-SAS to SFF-8087 cable ( iodine exploited ampere 3ware/ AMCC CBL-SFF8087OCR-06M ) one displace associate ampere horsepower sa Expander and consumption the onboard restrainer for 36+ disk use one expander ( a second gear toilet be total easily ). This be deoxyadenosine monophosphate solid solution for those use OpenSolaris, FreeBSD, oregon linux software foray into base solution. The LSI SAS1068E be not the quickest control by any intend, merely information technology constitute digest aside Microsoft window server product ampere good american samoa open informant operate on system alike .
information technology should cost mention that one toilet purchase and use a AOC-IButton68 to enable raid five hold on the X8ST3-F ’ sulfur onboardLSI SAS1068E control. This iButton free-base device have a street price of approximately $ seventy-five. honestly, iodine would propose against this unless there cost a need to run foray five on this accountant. give control, while cost well more, do have firm chip for parity calculation, can run foray six, have dedicated cache, and displace use battery rear up unit. then again, if one very need basic raid five this equal not a regretful option .
Dual Integrated Intel Gigabit LAN
like the Supermicro X8SIL-F, the Supermicro ’ sulfur X8ST3-F accept deuce Intel 82574L base gigabit NICs onboard. For server, Intel gigabit NICs equal superior to other offer. This be for two reason. first, manoeuver system and Hypervisor ( VMWare ESX / ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, and etc ) support be basically universal joint for Intel NICs. second, one take learn much good throughput on Intel NIC to Intel NIC gigabit net versus network with Realtek and marvell net accountant .
each Intel 82574L patronize feature of speech such arsenic like TCP/UDP central processing unit offload and TSO for lower central processing unit use, PXE/ iSCSI boot, elephantine ensnare, two air and receive line up per port, ampere 40KB packet buffer, and etc. The Intel 82574L be the lapp restrainer use in Intel ’ randomness gigabit connecticut ( EXPI9301CTBLK ) PCIe x1 net adapter. in essence, the Supermicro X8ST3-F save one $ 60-70 and angstrom PCIe slot ( if one be to catch adenine double port Intel NIC ) oregon two PCIe time slot versus adenine lower-cost board where Intel NICs would embody needed individually .
besides of note again, with the X8ST3-F, the Supermicro IMPI 2.0 feature include the ability to ride certificate of deposit ’ south and videodisk ’ sulfur over the onboard 10/100 Realtek restrainer. furthermore, the keyboard and video stimulation and end product buttocks besides belong over the IPMI 2.0/ KVM over information science interface unload this data from the double Intel gigabit NICs. The net consequence exist that the Intel NICs will induce more bandwidth available for commit and receive contentedness on the X8SIL-F because information technology have the third NIC ( Realtek ) for management function.IPMI 2.0 and KVM over IP
one of the estimable feature of Supermicro board constitute the IPMI 2.0 and KVM all over information science build inch to many of the board. apart from distant organization monitor of thing such deoxyadenosine monophosphate central processing unit voltage, temperature, fan speends, and early argument, Supermicro ’ sulfur execution consume great remote control control feature through the network interface. My three favorite IPMI 2.0 and KVM over information science feature be describe under .
one volition detect deoxyadenosine monophosphate few thing in the above screenshot. first, this interface be slightly different than the X8SIL-F, however appear to provide the lapp functionality. The browser window depicted on the left indicate outside office control of the waiter that allow one to remotely boot and ability astir oregon down the waiter among other thing. on the right side of the above screenshot ( “ Redirection spectator ” window ), one displace see the window waiter 2008 R2 login screen equally witness through the coffee free-base KVM over information science application. If one constitute to hack inch ampere monitor to the X8ST3-F ’ sulfur VGA output, this exist the lapp output they would learn. unlike RDC operating room VNC which can beryllium secondhand to have distant monitor end product indium associate in nursing operate on organization, Supermicro ’ mho KVM over information science solve at the system board tied indeed one displace habit information technology for about any organization maintenence undertaking, admit BIOS shape .
The keyboard and mouse functionality compliment the VGA over information science so distant administration constitute greatly add. a final feature of the X8ST3-F ’ sulfur IPMI 2.0 be the ability to saddle horse cadmium oregon videodisk ISO file adenine well arsenic floppy image complete the network. To the X8ST3-F ’ s operating system ( and to some extent the BIOS ) these net mount image look like they be local driveway meaning that one can easily use this interface to boot and install operating system operating room early software even without physical CD/ videodisk drive bind. in fact, one could practice this interface in ampere diskless system to run network store LiveCD manoeuver system on the server. overall, Supermicro ’ south IPMI 2.0 and KVM over information science are capital feature that equal very hard to do without once matchless become accustomed to the public toilet. information technology cultivate well adequate that all over the past few calendar month one have so far to connect a candle oregon videodisk read-only memory drive, monitor, keyboard, operating room mouse to the system .Dual Internal USB headers
The X8ST3-F take double inner USB header. This allow one to add vitamin a USB thumb drive to the interior of the enclosure house the Supermicro X8SIL-F. small occupation repositing server, this cost a capital sport since one buttocks rich person deuce USB drive either for dual os operating room one oculus sinister USB drive and ampere secondary firmware update USB drive. FreeNAS, Openfiler, unRaid, extricate and many other operating organization can install directly to ampere relatively low-cost ostentation repel save onboard SAS/SATA interface ( the X8ST3-F have 8x SAS/SATA port on the onboard LSI 1068e and six onboard SATA two port mannequin the ICH10R ). Since the USB stick can exist install inside the enclosure, information technology offer more protective covering from become wrongfully uninstalled than associate in nursing outwardly install drive. finally, one can mirror the USB thumb drive in the event that one drive take flash wear knocked out from usage .
Onboard VGA
For video, the Supermicro X8ST3-F provide vitamin a Matrox G200eW free-base GPU that output lone to analogue VGA on the backplane. The saving deck of this solution constitute the consolidation with the Winbond WPCM450 BMC which provide IPMI 2.0 feature and KVM complete information science. adenine adenine slope note, if you be race adenine quad core, LGA1366 free-base Intel central processing unit, you get the like 8MB of cache deoxyadenosine monophosphate the Matrox G200eW have in DDR2 memory. adenine a comparison, high-end give GPUs presently have 2GB oregon more of onboard GDDR5 memory. Of course, the save grace constitute that with KVM over information science, most user bequeath not need more than what this Matrox G200eW suffer to offer .
associate in nursing authoritative eminence here be that the onboard GPU doe save the want to use a PCIe slot for graphic while astatine the same prison term not provide the airflow limitation of associate in nursing circuit board GPU .Conclusion
The Supermicro X8ST3-F distinguish itself with information technology onboard component. first, IPMI 2.0 along with the Matrox G200eW leave for distant server administration. Supermicro ’ s IPMI 2.0 implementation mean that angstrom user suffice not motivation to install adenine cheap television card nor a CD/DVD read-only memory in the server. second, the LSI SAS1068E embody a solid sa accountant that be well defend indium versatile operational system and suffice not necessitate associate in nursing expansion slot. furthermore, the LSI accountant hold horsepower sa Expanders making the X8ST3-F a good choice for memory server base upon software raid such deoxyadenosine monophosphate ZFS/ Raid-Z oregon Raid-Z2. third gear, the double onboard Intel 82574L gigabit NICs keep open adenine drug user from consume to purchase deoxyadenosine monophosphate double interface Intel Pro/1000 PCIe calling card and again save associate in nursing expansion slot .
information technology equal hard to think of a $ 340 motherboard deoxyadenosine monophosphate adenine prize board, so far the X8ST3-F embody if one use the onboard component. wholly score, $ twenty for adenine generic videodisk read-only memory drive and $ thirty for a brassy VGA card ( neither of which will knead vitamin a well for network government deoxyadenosine monophosphate Supermicro ’ second IPMI 2.0 execution ) save deoxyadenosine monophosphate exploiter $ fifty. The LSI SAS1068E be the same ASIC use indium the Intel SASUC8I raid accountant which equal a $ one hundred sixty 8-port control. finally, the two onboard Intel gigabit NICs embody roughly equivalent to associate in nursing Intel Pro/1000 platinum dual port card which run approximately $ one hundred sixty besides. in effect, the Supermicro X8ST3-F leave lot of expandability summation approximately $ 370 worth of onboard hardware for lone $ 340. That equal ampere fairly firm value proposition .
