Supermicro X11 motherboards dedicated for Intel Xeon E-2100 (Coffee Lake)

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X11 motherboards dedicated for Intel Xeon E-2100 (Coffee Lake)

Motherboards dedicated to the Xeon E line of processors, formerly known as Xeon E3, have recently appeared on the market. The purpose of this guide is to explain the differences between the various options offered by Supermicro. Workstation boards and models designed for legacy applications (PCI and/or PCI-X slots) and boards with proprietary sizes are not included, although some workstation models may be of interest.

This document covers only motherboards with LGA1151 sockets and C242 / C246 PCH chipset, which are compatible with Coffee Lake and newer processors, known as Xeon E and Core i3 8xxx.

A full comparison is provided below for prospective buyers and for troubleshooting.

 

Basic features

Basically, the basic feature set of Supermicro C24x motherboards is very similar to the previous generation C23x motherboards:

  • Standard 4 DIMM slots, supporting DDR4 16 GB UDIMM modules (64 GB total RAM); support for 32 GB UDIMM (128 GB total RAM) is promised in a future software update.
  • IPMI provided by ASpeed AST2500 BMC, with dedicated IPMI LAN port
  • MicroATX size
  • Intel I210-AT GbE dual network card
  • 1 M.2 slot connected to PCIe 3.0 x4
  • 5 "USB 3.1 Gen 1" ports, commonly known as USB 3.0, capable of transferring 5 Gbps (one of which is a Type A port for internal USB devices) and 4 USB 2.0 ports
  • Most boards provide 6 SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps) ports
  • X11SCH-F / LN4F boards provide 8 SATA 3.0 (6 Gbps) ports.

X11SCL-F

The X11SCL-F uses the C242 PCH chipset and is therefore limited to 6 SATA ports, just like Haswell / Broadwell systems.

The number of PCIe 3.0 is as follows:

  • 1 gniazdo x16 (elektryczne x8) z procesora
  • 2 gniazda x8 (elektryczne x4) z procesora
  • 1 gniazdo M.2 (elektryczne x4) z PCH

The X11SCL-F also includes 2 additional USB 2.0 ports making a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports.

 

X11SCM-F

Unlike the older X11SSM-F model, the X11SCM-F board has much better value for money. It uses the C246 PCH chipset, but has only 6 SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) ports, just like the lower-end models. An additional SATA channel is available for the first M.2 slot, in addition to PCIe.

The PCIe 3.0 count is as follows:

  • 1 x16 slot from the processor
  • 2 M.2 slots (electric x4) from the PCH

The distinct lack of connectivity that the X11SCM-F suffers from is due to the X11SCM-LN8F's reduced cost. Six PCIe lines, which could be used by additional network cards, remain unused.

X11SCM-LN8F i X11SCL-LN4F

These two models use the same circuit board as the X11SCM-F, so they are almost identical:

  • X11SCM-LN8F has all 8 Intel I210-AT network cards.
  • X11SCL-LN4F has only 4 Intel I210-AT network cards and eliminates the second M.2 slot

X11SCH-F

X11SCH-F is a high-end Xeon E board from Supermicro. In practice, in terms of functionality, it is very similar to the X11SSH-F. In fact, the only difference is that the PCIe 3.0 x8 (electric x4) slot is replaced with a second M.2 slot (4x PCIe 3.0).
It is also the first model to have 8 SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) ports.

The number of PCIe 3.0 is as follows:

  • 1 x16 (electrical x8) slot from the processor
  • 1 x8 socket from the processor
  • 2 M.2 slots (electrical x4) from the PCH

The X11SCH-F also includes 2 additional USB 2.0 ports, bringing the total to 6 USB 2.0 ports

X11SCH-LN4F

The X11SCH-LN4F is very similar to the X11SCH-F. The only difference is the addition of 2 Intel I210-AT GbE controllers (for a total of 4x I210-AT).

X11SCL-IF

X11SCL-IF is mostly unrelated to all the other boards described here. In fact, it is a mini-ITX model. This leads to a few compromises, most notably the fact that it has only 4 SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) ports, making it extremely limited for NAS use. It also has only 2 DIMM slots, limiting the maximum memory to 32GB with a 16GB UDIMM, or 64GB with a 32GB UDIMM once supported by firmware.

The number of PCIe 3.0 is as follows:

  •     1 x16 slot from the processor
        1 M.2 slot (electric x4) from the PCH

Notes

Unfortunately, compared to the previous generation, there is no motherboard with an additional SAS 3008 (0,1,10) controller.

 

 -O vs -B


Many people are confused when they can only find X10SL7-F-O, instead of X10SL7-F, or X10SLM+-F-B instead of X10SLM+-F.

All Supermicro products receive an additional suffix -O or -B depending on single (-O) or bulk (-B) packaging.

Example:
Supermicro X10SL7-F-O is an individually packaged X10SL7-F motherboard, minimum purchase of 1 piece.
Supermicro X10SL7-F-B is a bulk-packaged X10SL7-F motherboard, minimum purchase of 8/10 pieces depends on the motherboard.

What is the difference between the two? With individual packaging, the customer receives a box with the appropriate packaging materials and I/O shield, SATA cables, Quick Reference guide. With bulk packaging, the customer gets a cardboard box with the boards, bulk-packed I/O shields and usually 2 SATA cables per board.

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