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Supermicro X7DWA-N - Supermicro X7DWA-N
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Fast and solid server platform - so not really intended for overclocking. Though for server application I'd prefer to have 4 on-board Gigabit LAN ports.
With 2 PCIe x16 slots the x8 (more or less) UIO slot seems not to be so useful - standard PCIe port will suit as well (this board is surely not for 1-2U chassis).
May be an excellent solution for 2D graphics workstation - 28 to 60GB RAM-based scratch disk (the latter with 8GB memory modules, when they will become cheaper) will make nearly any Photoshop/Illustrator project to fly!
Not so nicely fit for 3D graphics workstation - mainly because of NVIDIA (hope, self-killing) approach, demanding the presence of only NVIDIA chips on (otherwise unused) cross-cards PCIe connection (have quite a serious suspicion that it is drivers-based limitation - might be someone will "cure" this?). Also, sticking to eATX form factor limits the (otherwise excellent) expandability of i5400 chipset. Up to 4 slots might be "organized" from the first connection for up to 4 graphics cards use - they really do not need more bandwidth (at least yet). And 3-4 slots (with x32 total connections) might be arranged for I/O expansion from the second link (surely this construction would not fit onto eATX board!).
With 2 PCIe x16 slots the x8 (more or less) UIO slot seems not to be so useful - standard PCIe port will suit as well (this board is surely not for 1-2U chassis).
May be an excellent solution for 2D graphics workstation - 28 to 60GB RAM-based scratch disk (the latter with 8GB memory modules, when they will become cheaper) will make nearly any Photoshop/Illustrator project to fly!
Not so nicely fit for 3D graphics workstation - mainly because of NVIDIA (hope, self-killing) approach, demanding the presence of only NVIDIA chips on (otherwise unused) cross-cards PCIe connection (have quite a serious suspicion that it is drivers-based limitation - might be someone will "cure" this?). Also, sticking to eATX form factor limits the (otherwise excellent) expandability of i5400 chipset. Up to 4 slots might be "organized" from the first connection for up to 4 graphics cards use - they really do not need more bandwidth (at least yet). And 3-4 slots (with x32 total connections) might be arranged for I/O expansion from the second link (surely this construction would not fit onto eATX board!).
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- Feb 9, 2009
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I've been watching this board for a couple of years as I'm looking to upgrade my (super micro pdsge) media server to better handle Hi def. The problem I see with "consumer" boards such as this is the continual reduction in option slots.
8 used to be the norm but no longer.
Between my 2 raid controller cards and 2 capture card plus video, the expansion capabilities are ended.
I wish that SM and other companies would provide products for the high end user to permit future expansion.
If I had my perfect board it would contain 6 pci-x/pci combo slots & 2 pci-e x16 that support cross fire and sli.
Even though I have no need for this much graphics horse power for my needs.
Aside from this shortcoming, I'm sure that this is a strong contender in it's market space. Unfortuantely, I can't justify dropping one to two large on a board that doesn't permit future expansion as new products come available :<
For now I'm toying with a hp dl380-II server for my next upgrade cycle, (if I can fix the noise issues that is, 10 fans to silence...).
(4 dual xeon @ 2.5 ghz)
8 used to be the norm but no longer.
Between my 2 raid controller cards and 2 capture card plus video, the expansion capabilities are ended.
I wish that SM and other companies would provide products for the high end user to permit future expansion.
If I had my perfect board it would contain 6 pci-x/pci combo slots & 2 pci-e x16 that support cross fire and sli.
Even though I have no need for this much graphics horse power for my needs.
Aside from this shortcoming, I'm sure that this is a strong contender in it's market space. Unfortuantely, I can't justify dropping one to two large on a board that doesn't permit future expansion as new products come available :<
For now I'm toying with a hp dl380-II server for my next upgrade cycle, (if I can fix the noise issues that is, 10 fans to silence...).
(4 dual xeon @ 2.5 ghz)
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2009
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
Fairly good but expensive, I finally settled on a pair of HP workstations model xw8400.
sweet config, 3 pci-x, 3 pci-e (16x 8x 8x) and a pci slot. dual xeon cpu sockets.
5100/5300 dual or quad core w/1333 fsb. 32 g max memory, on board sas (4) and sata (6) ports, on board audio, front and rear usb 2 and fire wire.
you should also take a look at the 8600 series uses 1 gen newer 5200/5400 xeon procs.
I paid less than 300 for a complete 8400 w/ dual 5160 proc's, memory, dual sas drives, kybd mouse & dvd w/ win vista be 800 watt psu.
My second build was a board only, $55 on ebay, had to add 2 heat sinks w/ cpu $80, memory 60 all mounted into a spare server (atx ff) box.
All told a nice stable package.
I currently have an 8 core @ 1.88g 4 gb and a quad core @ 3.0 8 gb running nvidia 9800gt video is more than over kill for my needs.
Media center applications and linux games.