Supermicro X9DAi

[testman78]

Introduction


Instead of an enthusiast motherboard, this time we will look at a workstation motherboard.Up for review today we have one of Supermicro's dual-socket-2011 server motherboards , the X9DAi.In a nutshell, the X9DAi is a dual-socket 2011 server-oriented motherboard, featuring the C602-A chipset.



It's certainly not a small board, conforming to the SSI EEB form factor .Hit the break to find out what it's all about and why you might care about it even if you don't need to run two CPUs.As you can see it's an incredibly feature-rich motherboard.





Layout

I knew server boards were large, but coming from the ATX and E-ATX standards, this thing is huge. It measures 330mm x 305mm which correlates to the SSI EEB specification for server motherboards. This is the size exact size of an official E-ATX motherboard (despite a small amount of loose definition), but to put the icing on the cake, the mounting holes for the motherboard are different to the normal ATX standards.




Here you can see the standard SATA ports coming from the C602 chipset: the two white ports are 6gb/s and the four black ports are 3gb/s.



Totally you'll find four sets of four DIMM-slots on the X9DAi which means there are no less than sixteen memory slots . Officially supported are the following clock speeds: 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz. Memory slots are quite close to the cpu socket so you won't be able to fit enthusiasts memory on it but that's not a problem because this motherboard is designed for workstation use and worksation memory doesn't have high memory heatspreaders luckily.



The rear IO is very bare compared to what we are normally used to. From left to right is a VGA port,four USB 2.0 ports,audio and SPDIF out ports,two gigabit Ethernet NICs (Intel I350),two USB 3.0 ports and PS/2 port. It made for some rather entertaining/hair removing scenarios when things did not go smoothly during testing.



As with the majority of server boards, stability and longevity is a top priority. This means no overclocking, and Supermicro can safely place a six phase power delivery on each CPU which it also helps that all SB-E Xeons are multiplier locked and there is no word of unlocked CPUs being released any time soon.Furthermore each set of four DIMM memory slots benefit of their own two digital power phases. With a total of 4x 2 digital power phases for the memory and 2x 6 for the processors to provide maximum stability.



Southbridge as well as current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive cooling blocks.But not only, also the LSI chip and the LAN chip have heatsinks on them to feel more fresh.



As we look at the board, standards dictate that the CPU on the right is designated as the first CPU. Each CPU has access to a single fan header, and specifications for coolers are fairly loose in both the x and the y directions, limited only by memory population and the max z-height of the case or chassis the board is being placed into. As with all dual CPU motherboards, each CPU needs its own Power Connector, and we find them at the top of the board behind the memory slots and at opposite ends. The placement of these power connectors is actually quite far away for a normal motherboard, but it seems that the priority of the placement is at the edge of the board.



In between the two CPU power connectors is a standard 24-pin ATX power connector.



As per normal operation on a C602 DP board, the PCIe slots are taken from the PEG of one CPU. On some other boards, it is possible to interweave all the PCIe lanes from both CPUs, but it becomes difficult when organizing communication between the GPUs on different CPUs. From top to bottom we get an x8 (@x4), x16, x8 (@x4), x16 (@x8), x4(@x1). It seems odd to offer these longer slots at lower speed ratings, but all of the slots are Gen 3.0 capable except the x4(@x1). The lanes may have been held back to maintain data coherency.



On the far left we have an ASPEED AST2300 chip, which has multiple functions. On one hand it is an onboard 2D graphics chip which powers the VGA port via its ARM926EJ (ARM9) core at 400 MHz. For the other, it as an advanced PCIe graphics and remote management processor, supporting dual NICs, two COM ports, monitoring functions and embedded memory. Further round this section gives us a removable BIOS chip, a COM header, diagnostic headers for internal functions, and a USB 2.0 header.Even if it is a workstation motherboard, Supermicro seems to have spent some time on the design and didn't make a cheap looking motherboard but indeed a very good looking one.




A look at the back.



The layout itself has been well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to mount two Noctua NH-U12DX i4 on it without any problems.





BIOS

Here are the BIOS Settings i used for the testing. The only changes i made from those settings pictured are enable/disable Turbo and HyperThreading.








This motherboard is not designed for the enthusiast market so that's normal.









Test System & Methology

Without having a direct competitor to this board on hand there is little i can compare such a motherboard to.



Motherboard-Supermicro X9DAi
Processor-2 x Intel Xeon E5-2690 (8C/16T)
Turbo-3'800 MHz (1 Core)
3'600 MHz (2-3 Core)
3'400 MHz (4-5 Core)
3'300 MHz (6+ Core)
Graphic card-nVidia GTX 580
Memory-GeIL Dragon DIMM Kit 64GB PC3-12800U
Psu-Seasonic Platinum 1000w
Hard disk-OCZ RevoDrive 3
Pc case-Antec Nineteen Hundred



WPrime1024 & UCBench 2011

WPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton's method for estimating functions. The less time it takes the faster is your processor.



UnRAR-crack is a free RAR password cracker. It employs various techniques to maximize cracking speed (e.g. using SSE2, SSSE3, etc. to test more passwords at once, and using multithreading to take advantage of multi-core/hyperthreaded processors).UnRAR-crack benchmark uses the password cracking core of UnRAR-crack to test the performance of your system. It works by launching several thousand password checks and measuring the average testing speed, in passwords per second. It repeats the same procedure for different number of threads (up to the max your system can utilize), and using different crypto functions (SSE2-optimized, SSSE3-optimized, etc.). Using it, you can measure the SMP boost, the SSE unit performance, etc. The higher is the number the faster is your processor.





CineBench

The test scenario uses all of your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene (from the viral "No Keyframes" animation by AixSponza). This scene makes use of various algorithms to stress all available processor cores. In fact, CINEBENCH can measure systems with up to 64 processor threads. This test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.





Memory & Cache BandwidthLatency

Memory Bandwidth Measures the streaming performance of the memory systems. Higher is faster.



Memory Latency Measures the access time of the cache and memory systems. Lower is faster.





Cryptography & Arithmetic

Cryptography Measures the cryptographic performance (encrypt/decrypt, hash, sign) of the processors. Higher is faster.



Processor Arithmetic Measures the arithmetic and floating-point performance of processors. Higher is faster.





Multi-Media & Mutli-Core Efficiency

Processor Multi-Media Measures the multi-media and media processing performance of processors. Higher is faster.



Mutli-Core Efficiency Measures the efficiency of inter-core, inter-module and inter-package communication of processors. Higher is faster.





Office Productivity & Data Analysis

The Office Productivity scenario models productivity usage including word processing, spreadsheet data manipulation, email creation/management and web browsing.SYSmark 2012 measures system performance by measuring the response time of tasks on a PC using real applications and simulated user input. In the SYSmark 2012 scoring methodology, task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects the user experience. The faster a PC responds to the application workloads in SYSmark 2012, the higher its SYSmark 2012 performance ratings will be.Read, create and search for emails. Create and execute a rule on email inbox. Use multiple browsers to browse a blog, online shopping site, wiki site and social networking site. Check web mail in a private browser session. Combine multiple scanned pages from a complex document into an encrypted PDF document using optical character recognition (OCR). Create a PDF with fillable form fields from scanned pages. Archive a diverse set of files into an a single encrypted file. Use an advanced OCR program to convert scanned pages of complex and simple documents into editable word documents. Create a blog post and do a mail merge. Use a spreadsheet program to do data analysis. Create and view complex presentations that include clip art and video. Some of these activities are performed concurrently to model typical multitasking behavior.



The Data/Financial Analysis scenario creates financial models to review, evaluate and forecast business expenses. In addition, the performance and viability of financial investments is analyzed using past and projected performance data.SYSmark 2012 measures system performance by measuring the response time of tasks on a PC using real applications and simulated user input. In the SYSmark 2012 scoring methodology, task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects the user experience. The faster a PC responds to the application workloads in SYSmark 2012, the higher its SYSmark 2012 performance ratings will be.Generate sales forecasts by region and currency based on historical data, and produce summary graphs and pivot tables using a spreadsheet application.





System Management

The System Management scenario models the creation of data backup sets and the compression, and decompression of various file types. Updates to installed software are also performed.SYSmark 2012 measures system performance by measuring the response time of tasks on a PC using real applications and simulated user input. In the SYSmark 2012 scoring methodology, task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects the user experience. The faster a PC responds to the application workloads in SYSmark 2012, the higher its SYSmark 2012 performance ratings will be.Install and then upgrade an application using a complete application installer and patch installers. Perform a (simulated) full system backup using encryption, then after making changes to the initial backup dataset, perform two encrypted incremental backups. Restore both backups. Create an encrypted archive of various sensitive files for transfer across unsecured communications, and another unencrypted archive of various files. Decompress the initial backup and two incremental backups. Decompress the encrypted and unencrypted archive files.





Media Creation & 3D Modeling

The Media Creation scenario models using digital photos and digital video to create, preview, and render a video advertisement for a fictional business.SYSmark 2012 measures system performance by measuring the response time of tasks on a PC using real applications and simulated user input. In the SYSmark 2012 scoring methodology, task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects the user experience. The faster a PC responds to the application workloads in SYSmark 2012, the higher its SYSmark 2012 performance ratings will be.Create a panoramic image using an image editing application, combine a set of photos into one high dynamic range (HDR) image, and adjust and prepare both images for print. Preview and encode a complex video project using a video compositing application. Here, OpenGL is used for all video previews and a software render is used for maximum video quality upon final output as recommended by software vendor documentation. Transcode the video to a format suitable for web publishing using a video editing application.



The 3D Modeling scenario focuses on creating, rendering, and previewing 3D objects and/or environments suitable for use in still imagery. The creation of 3D architectural models/landscapes and rendering of 2D images and video of models are also included.SYSmark 2012 measures system performance by measuring the response time of tasks on a PC using real applications and simulated user input. In the SYSmark 2012 scoring methodology, task response times are used to generate a performance rating that reflects the user experience. The faster a PC responds to the application workloads in SYSmark 2012, the higher its SYSmark 2012 performance ratings will be.Create components for a 3D scene, including a panoramic image and texture images, using an image editing application. Create and render views of an architectural model using realistic materials in an architectural modeling application. Add visual features to an existing architectural model, and render "sketch" style views using an architectural modeling application. Create a 3D scene, rendering views and a fly-through animation of the scene's progression through development, using a 3D modeling application.





Conclusion

Put me in front of a dual processor motherboard and a pair of eight core Xeons with HyperThreading and I will squeal with delight.Furhtermore it was possible to install large CPU coolers, which is really usfull if you want to build a high-end workstation that operates at low noise level. Another nice addition is the LSI RAID Controller which is capable of managing up to twelve drives. Therefore it is also worth mentioning that the RAID Controller has been connected via eight lanes. Like there there should be plenty of bandwidth.Looking at the DIMM slots showed that they have been placed very close to the CPU sockets. Like this Supermicro has been able to save some space which they needed because of the expansion slots. In fact there is a good mix. What you get is two PCI Express x16 Gen3 slots, two PCI Express x8 Gen3 slots as well as another PCI Express x4 Gen2 slot. If you for example want to install a high performance PCI Express SSD then you'll be happy about the PCI Express x8 Gen3 Slots.Having an onboard 2D chip negates needing a dedicated display GPU, and the network interfaces allow users to remotely check up on system temperatures and fan speeds to reduce overheating or lockups due to thermals. There are plenty of connections on board for mini-SAS cabling and devices, combined with an LSI SAS chip if RAID is a priority. The big plus point over consumer oriented double processor boards is the DIMM slot count.The performance when using synthetic and theorical benchmarks is just impressive. Performance is really up to twice as high when using two instead of only one processor. But sadly you won't see the same for real world workloads. Simply because todays software isn't ready for that many threads. Of course you will see benefits with such a machine if you require heavy computing workload or a virtual machine.As an overclocking enthusiast, I would have loved to see some overclock, but the only thing a Sandy Bridge-E processor with an overclock will do is increase single threaded speed – the overall multithreaded performance on most benchmarks is still below an i7-3960X at 5 GHz (from personal testing). For simulation performance, it really depends on the simulation itself if it will blaze though the code while using ~410 watts.The BIOS is of course well furnished for a server use. But only in this case. As i said already this motherboard is not designed for the enthusiast market so that's normal. But anyway we would have liked to have a BIOS with more configuration settings for clock frequency and memory timings for example.



I guess you already heard it too many times for whom this motherboard has been designed. So i recommend this motherboard for a server that is powering several virtual mahines. Furhtermore it's also very suitable for a high performance workstation.I give the Supermicro X9DAi my Outstanding Award.