Intel DX79SI or Supermicro X9SRA

[Paul P]

Hi All,

I'm putting a system together, on paper for the moment since some components are not yet available, and find myself faced with a choice of motherboards.

I have no experience with either Intel or Supermicro so I'd appreciate any comments with respect to either company.

My requirements are for support for the Xeon E5-1620 processor and ECC memory. Actually, the requirement for EEC memory is what's driving everything else.

The only two boards I've found that meet my this requirement are :

Intel DX79SI
(yes it supports EEC (non registered) and LGA 2011 Xeons, see : Product Guide

and the Supermicro X9SRA

These boards are very similar except for the following :

The Intel board uses the Intel X79 chipset, the Supermicro uses the Intel C602.

The Supermicro supports both non registered and registered EEC up to 256GB, the Intel non registered, up to 64GB.

I'm looking for very long term stability and reliability and will not be overclocking.

Any comments helping me decide would be appreciated.

 

[jaquith]

Besides the Xeon E5-1620 and ECC, what are the requirements and purpose of this build?

All you stated is the those (2) MOBO meet a requirement. Well so do other MOBO's support the CPU e.g. ASUS P9X79 WS - http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/P9X79_WS/#CPUS

Supermicro is a very good WS/Server MOBO and component company and IMO superior to Intel in that regard.

 

[Paul P]

Thanks for the reply.

Besides the Xeon E5-1620 and ECC, what are the requirements and purpose of this build?

A rock solid workstation that'll last 6-8 years of daily use Given that I won't do without ECC (that's a huge discussion in itself), the rest is very much restricted if I use the latest technology to give me the longest lifespan

All you stated is the those (2) MOBO meet a requirement. Well so do other MOBO's support the CPU e.g. ASUS P9X79 WS - http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_2011/P9X79_WS/#CPUS

Supermicro is a very good WS/Server MOBO and component company and IMO superior to Intel in that regard.

I'm glad to hear that about Supermicro as it's the impression I got from reading the manual for the board. I had seen the ASUS P9X79 WS but for some reason had rejected it early on (I haven't found any others). It does look like a nice board if it does everything it's supposed to. Here's one comment that doesn't think so, from a week ago : here

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1 out of 5 eggsBEWARE no Xeon CPU Support

3/13/2012

Pros: Designed for workstations.

Cons: According to Asus support both in the USA (by phone) and in Taiwan (by email) this board does not support Xeon cpus. Even though in the Newegg product video J.J. from Asus says that one of it's features is Xeon validation. Also the specs on usa.asus.com list Xeon Cpus.

Other Thoughts: As many others have encountered Asus support leaves something to be desired. When I spoke to them on Sunday about Xeon Cpu support they would not even give me a support ticket. How can this be called a workstation motherboard?
----------------------

This may simply be a case of the support team not having caught up with the real world since the Xeon just came out. But the board has been selling for months. The manual says LGA2011 Xeons and there wouldn't be much point in supporting ECC without them.

A couple of comments on the ASUS P9X79 WS : It's SSI-CEB form factor 12"x10.5" (305x267) so a bit wider (1",25mm) than ATX, whereas the Intel and Supermicro are ATX (that's ok with me). It's a bit pricy but acceptable if the board's good. It requires unbuffered EEC memory which is more expensive than registered (I can't see myself using more than 64GB, but who knows).

Ok, given this new addition to the list which does indeed look nice, which would you pick ?

 

[jaquith]

Frankly, I don't give a rip specifically what you use the rig for other than a general gist to recommend one MOBO/component over the other. It's kinda pointless to discuss recommending a 'black box'. If it's that secret then you should easily know more than I do.

Further, I don't read NewEgg noob comments to know what's better or worst. Regarding, ECC I have no reason to recommend against it; on a WS ECC is a duh with Xeon.

Comments like "BEWARE no Xeon CPU Support" are idiotic, the Xeon support is indeed there and any moron can check @ ASUS's site. If someone uses a CPU that isn't supported (Xeon limited to E5-1620, E5-1650, or E5-1660) then they're a bigger moron. Note the link provided in my first post. BIOS version 0802 is required and the MOBO can be flashed without a CPU or RAM installed; use USB BIOS Flashback.

LGA 2011 can support 16GB/stick density once available.

On top of all that, I'd say 80%~90% of the brilliant folks out there are not installing Windows 7, if that's what they're using, correctly with the Intel RST Enterprise drivers. Thereby, creating a plethora of oddball issues. Not to mention the C1 bug SB-E CPUs and not updating their BIOS.

All in all, there's a 2%~3% failure rate on any MOBO not to mention component failure rates. ASUS X79 MOBO's were the only ones immune from the C1 VT-d bug.

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Anything else?