Dual Xeon-D

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craig5571

Member
May 31, 2020
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just bought this memory... i'm thinking it should work..

thinking about using this in the m2 slot..

trying to keep costs low , until i know everything will work..

just found an interesting case for this

Define 7 XL SSI EEB Support : Fractal Design Support


it really is looking very cool, and its totally silent..
 
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rachet06

New Member
May 27, 2020
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Miami, FL
I dunno if I'd agree. I'm seeing length-matched traces from the FPGA to both the CPUs. I'm not sure what the interface is, since it doesn't look like differential pairs.

I still think there's a possibility the FPGA is doing some sort of crypto thing, but I suppose it could also be clock distribution or platform initialization.I'm not sure what the bringup processes for modern CPUs looks like.
From what I've found today they have some hand in init/bootup. I got three boards, two of them boot when power is applied. The third one just sits there when it gets turned on. If I swap the socketed flash out for one of the working boards the third one boots on power, but linux can't start the driver for the ethernet ports, throwing an error about corrupted EEPROM.

Based on that I'm thinking the FPGA controls at least part of startup and must do something involving the NICs.
Also since one of my boards is different either there's variations in how that flash is programmed or mines faulty.

I've also been trying on-and-off to see what access I can get to lower level board functions. There's a TI UCD90160 power controller down on the edge of the board by the CPUs. Its PMBUS pins (and I assume others, but I couldn't confirm) end up at the header marked UCD in the corner. I probed its pmbus address selection pins and it looks like they're configured for 0x44. The CPU's smbus controller reports something at that address when I scan it but the linux ucd driver doesn't seem to like it. sm/pmbus are way out of my day to day knowledge, so I'm probably chasing ghosts but it's been interesting.
 

andreathing

New Member
May 5, 2020
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3
I finally received my board, and it's severely beaten up. One of the battery holders has been desoldered (well, not quite: it has abroken pin) and the usb ports are out of alignment. I'm planning to fix it if it works (waiting for the RAMS to arrive to test it). I'm quite annoyed by the lack of care they handled the package with.

@fake-name
Regarding the FPGA: i think it does something, but if i had to bet i would bet on some glue logic function or something related to really low latency networking, this is because xeon cpu already have hardware crypto acceleration (specifically AES, but it think it's what you would want to speed up for web applications). Btw if it used as an hardware accelerator, do you reckon it shoulde be visible as PCIe peripheral?
 
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itronin

Well-Known Member
Nov 24, 2018
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Denver, Colorado
I finally received my board, and it's severely beaten up. One of the battery holders has been desoldered (well, not quite: it has abroken pin) and the usb ports are out of alignment. I'm planning to fix it if it works (waiting for the RAMS to arrive to test it). I'm quite annoyed by the lack of care they handled the package with.
That;'s really disappointing to hear. I was really impressed with how well packaged mine were. @MONTREAL-COMPUTERS hasn't responded since they tried to drum up business for this board. :-(.
 

rachet06

New Member
May 27, 2020
15
12
3
Miami, FL
I finally received my board, and it's severely beaten up. One of the battery holders has been desoldered (well, not quite: it has abroken pin) and the usb ports are out of alignment. I'm planning to fix it if it works (waiting for the RAMS to arrive to test it). I'm quite annoyed by the lack of care they handled the package with.

@fake-name
Regarding the FPGA: i think it does something, but if i had to bet i would bet on some glue logic function or something related to really low latency networking, this is because xeon cpu already have hardware crypto acceleration (specifically AES, but it think it's what you would want to speed up for web applications). Btw if it used as an hardware accelerator, do you reckon it shoulde be visible as PCIe peripheral?
No unexpected PCIe devices on mine:


Code:
@nodea:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DMI2 (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 03)
00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 03)
00:02.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 03)
00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 03)
00:03.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 03)
00:03.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 03)
00:05.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Map/VTd_Misc/System Management (rev 03)
00:05.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D IIO Hot Plug (rev 03)
00:05.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D IIO RAS/Control Status/Global Errors (rev 03)
00:05.4 PIC: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D I/O APIC (rev 03)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI (rev 05)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:16.1 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family USB EHCI #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C224 Series Chipset Family Server Standard SKU LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon Processor D Family QuickData Technology Register DMA Channel 0
02:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon Processor D Family QuickData Technology Register DMA Channel 1
02:00.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon Processor D Family QuickData Technology Register DMA Channel 2
02:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon Processor D Family QuickData Technology Register DMA Channel 3
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection X552 10 GbE SFP+
03:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection X552 10 GbE SFP+
07:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Sandisk Corp Device 5004 (rev 01)
ff:0b.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R3 QPI Link 0/1 (rev 03)
ff:0b.1 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R3 QPI Link 0/1 (rev 03)
ff:0b.2 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R3 QPI Link 0/1 (rev 03)
ff:0b.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R3 QPI Link Debug (rev 03)
ff:0c.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.4 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.5 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.6 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0c.7 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0f.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0f.4 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0f.5 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:0f.6 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Caching Agent (rev 03)
ff:10.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R2PCIe Agent (rev 03)
ff:10.1 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D R2PCIe Agent (rev 03)
ff:10.5 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Ubox (rev 03)
ff:10.6 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Ubox (rev 03)
ff:10.7 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Ubox (rev 03)
ff:12.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Home Agent 0 (rev 03)
ff:12.1 Performance counters: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Home Agent 0 (rev 03)
ff:13.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Target Address/Thermal/RAS (rev 03)
ff:13.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Target Address/Thermal/RAS (rev 03)
ff:13.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel Target Address Decoder (rev 03)
ff:13.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel Target Address Decoder (rev 03)
ff:13.4 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel Target Address Decoder (rev 03)
ff:13.5 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel Target Address Decoder (rev 03)
ff:13.6 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Channel 0/1 Broadcast (rev 03)
ff:13.7 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Global Broadcast (rev 03)
ff:14.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 0 Thermal Control (rev 03)
ff:14.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 1 Thermal Control (rev 03)
ff:14.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 0 Error (rev 03)
ff:14.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 1 Error (rev 03)
ff:14.4 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Channel 0/1 Interface (rev 03)
ff:14.5 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Channel 0/1 Interface (rev 03)
ff:14.6 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Channel 0/1 Interface (rev 03)
ff:14.7 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D DDRIO Channel 0/1 Interface (rev 03)
ff:15.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 2 Thermal Control (rev 03)
ff:15.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 3 Thermal Control (rev 03)
ff:15.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 2 Error (rev 03)
ff:15.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Memory Controller 0 - Channel 3 Error (rev 03)
ff:1e.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1e.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1e.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1e.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1e.4 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1f.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
ff:1f.2 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E7 v4/Xeon E5 v4/Xeon E3 v4/Xeon D Power Control Unit (rev 03)
 

craig5571

Member
May 31, 2020
60
6
8
i see that the 10Gbe reports as Intel X550 series specifically X552. what type of glc / gbic / sfp+
would i need to connect it to my 10g switch?
i found this page..

it lists the following , does it apply to this board as well


SFP+ and SFP modules
What are the SFP+ and SFP module requirements for the Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520 Series?

  • Intel® Ethernet SFP+ SR Optics and Intel® Ethernet SFP+ LR Optics are the only 10-Gbps optical modules supported. Purchase the modules separately.
  • Other brands of SFP+ (10 Gbps) modules are not allowed and can't be used with the adapters.
  • The -SR adapters include Intel Ethernet SFP+ SR Optics.
  • The -LR1 adapter includes an Intel Ethernet SFP+ LR Optic.
  • The -DA2 adapter does not include any SFP+ or SFP modules.
  • Some 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-SX modules work with Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520 series. The table lists tested modules. Other similar modules may work but have not been tested.1

NameProduct Code or Part NumberSupplier Part NumbersType
Intel® Ethernet SFP SR OpticsE10GSFPSRFTLX8571D3BCVIT1Dual Rate 10GBASE-SR/1000BASE-SX
Intel® Ethernet SFP SR OpticsE10GSFPSRAFBR-709DMZ-IN2Dual Rate 10GBASE-SR/1000BASE-SX
Intel® Ethernet SFP LR OpticsE10GSFPLRFTLX1471D3BCVI31Dual Rate 10GBASE-LR/1000BASE-LX

Maybe this?
 
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fake-name

Active Member
Feb 28, 2017
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@fake-name
Regarding the FPGA: i think it does something, but if i had to bet i would bet on some glue logic function or something related to really low latency networking, this is because xeon cpu already have hardware crypto acceleration (specifically AES, but it think it's what you would want to speed up for web applications). Btw if it used as an hardware accelerator, do you reckon it shoulde be visible as PCIe peripheral?
PCIe is differential pair, and I don't see any of those, though admittedly they could be on internal layers.

I'm just stuck on the epoxy-blob devices. There's basically 2 cases I know of where you see that:

  1. Extremely low-cost, high-volume products where ICs are directly wirebonded to the PCB and then protected with epoxy
  2. Tamper protection
Considering the rest of the thing, #1 seems unlikely, so I'm stuck assuming there's *some* sort of device under the epoxy they don't want people having easy access to.

I'm stuck assuming it might be some sort of weird HSM. The fact that these were intended for a CDN (with lots of HTTPS certs, presumably) would make sense if that were true.
 
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itronin

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Nov 24, 2018
1,233
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Denver, Colorado
here

I'm wondering if maybe some were returned as opposed to these being a new LOT as there is a new description that in particular talks about borked battery clips/holders which is consistent with one report in this thread... did anyone return any of these boards?
 
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Navy_BOFH

Active Member
Aug 2, 2013
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I’ve made an offer for $150 and $175 so far both declined or ignored. So I’m wondering if this seller is trying to sell the “seconds” for more considering the reports of pricing the first round.