Supermicro X11DPi-N E-ATX Motherboard Review

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Aestr

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Oct 22, 2014
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Any reason why there's no mention of the on-board NVME connections? I know they were covered in the separate X11DPi-NT review, but they seem like a real highlight of the motherboard when listing the storage features.
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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Any reason why there's no mention of the on-board NVME connections? I know they were covered in the separate X11DPi-NT review, but they seem like a real highlight of the motherboard when listing the storage features.
Yes. The 2 on board when paired with a new 4 port (x16) NVME AOC from Supermicro, makes it easy to add up to 6 nvme drives to most of the SuperMicro servers without any modding.
 
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bitrot

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Aug 7, 2017
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It's a pity that from the Supermicro single socket 3647 lineup, only the highest end X11SPH-NCT(P)F board actually has OCULink connectors, unlike the dual socket boards like this one which is more of an entry level dual socket 3647 board.

Expect those connectors to be more common in future, though, they're ace.
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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It's a pity that from the Supermicro single socket 3647 lineup, only the highest end X11SPH-NCT(P)F board actually has OCULink connectors, unlike the dual socket boards like this one which is more of an entry level dual socket 3647 board.

Expect those connectors to be more common in future, though, they're ace.
The oculink to U.2 cables are so slim and easy to route.
 

K D

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Dec 24, 2016
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Anyone using this board know if the 8087 connectors can be used with a Supermicro A backplane? I just tried it with a 216 chassis and the drives were not detected.
 

anoother

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Dec 2, 2016
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Does anybody know what the difference is between the two Supermicro oculink cables? (CBL-SAST-1011 and CBL-SAST-0956)

I keep looking at the specs and can't see what is different between them.

Search results for: 'oculink'
The 0956 looks to use some weird narrow connector on the U.2 side that won't work with any drive I've seen. Might be designed for backplane connectivity?

On this note, if anyone knows a reasonably-priced EU source for the 1011, please let me know.
 

anoother

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Dec 2, 2016
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Both are the same. The difference is their lengths.
Looks like you're right; connector difference just a perspective trick.

Supermicro lists both as 55cm, but LambdaTek says the 1011 is 75cm, so I guess that is the difference.
 

TeeJayHoward

Active Member
Feb 12, 2013
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Is it possible with the 3647 boards like this to only populate a single CPU/RAM slot? If so, what are the down sides?
 

i386

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Mar 18, 2016
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It's possible, but with just one cpu you can't use all pcie & ram slots.

See the block diagram in the manual:
Block Diagram.JPG
 

alex_stief

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May 31, 2016
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It is possible. The downsides are: you only have one CPU :D
Less memory bandwidth with only one DIMM slot populated. Some PCIe-slots and controllers might not work because they are connected to the other CPU socket. Which ones depends on the motherboard, refer to the manual.