Supermicro X10SLM+-LN4F motherboard model number question

[caveat lector]

I am going to build a couple new servers to expand a small internet server farm that has run in my basement for years. There will be no need to support virtual servers and the Supermicro X10SLM+-LN4F motherboard with the C224 Chipset is an attractive alternative.

Newegg is currently offering a SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLM+LN4F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600 for $198.99.

Someone wrote here a long time ago that -O designates standard retail packaging, but what is the significance of the minus sign before "LN4F" in the model number?

 

[PigLover]

Normally seeing "+-" in a Supermicro motherboard part # means it has some minor modification from the "standard" board. Recent motherboards with this designation had alternate parts used for NICs. These boards usually exist for compatibility with ESXi or some other common OS.

For this board I don't see any other part number. The "+-LN4F" is the only version listed on SMs website. See here for all UP-1150 motherboards: Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Motherboards | Xeon.

If you look at the pictures on Newegg's listing and zoom in on the one looking down at the whole motherboard you can see that the part number silkscreened in the picture is, indeed, "X10SLM+-LN4F". My guess is that Newegg just typo'd the part number in their listing.

 

[caveat lector]

@PigLover, Thanks for your quick response. The difference likely is just a typo, but I just found that Amazon offers boards at the same price with a model number that exactly matches the number at the Supermicro website, so I will order from them to avoid the ambiguity.

http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-Motherboard-Ultra-MBD-X10SLM-LN4F-O/dp/B00D65IE2M

 

[Patrick]

On this class of board the + usually means it has an extra external controller and is not using the onboard controller. LN4F lets us know there are 4x NICs and IPMI. The + tells us that those are not using the onboard i217 so we would expect to see 4x i210 AT network controllers.

 

[caveat lector]

It seems that it would be in Super Micro's best interest to explain meanings of motherboard model/part number characters to simplify board selection and reduce the risk of ordering mistakes, but I wasn't able to find that information at their website.

 

[herby]

If you look at the pictures on Newegg's listing and zoom in on the one looking down at the whole motherboard you can see that the part number silkscreened in the picture is, indeed, "X10SLM+-LN4F". My guess is that Newegg just typo'd the part number in their listing.

You really can't trust the pictures on newegg. I find they often recycle pictures between revisions especially with parts they would consider niche.

 

[Chuckleb]

This website has an older decoder ring:

Supermicro Motherboard SKU Decoder

and on here, he decodes the newer board that you are looking at:

Supermicro Haswell X10 E3-1200V3 4th generation Motherboards

 

[caveat lector]

@Chuckleb, thanks that really helps.