SUPERMICRO MBD-X7SBE server motherboard


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I've been thinking of possibly getting this motherboard for my unRAID server. The biggest reason is the pci-x slots that are available for the Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 controller that I already have. The board is listed at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182142

 

Looking at the board's specifications, here are the pros and cons:

 

Pros

onboard video controller (ATI ES1000) so there won't be any video card taking up precious slots

1 pci-e x 8 slot and 1 pci-e x 4 slot

2 pci-x 100mhz slots and 2 pci-x 133mhz slots

6 onboard SATA connectors via Intel ICHR9 controller

dual gigabit lan which are also on the pci-e bus

would be able to use my current Intel E2160 processor

current memory should also be compatible with this board (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

 

Cons

2 less SATA connectors than current board (GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R)

onboard lan controllers might not be compatible with unRAID (Intel 82573V & 82573L)

not the cheapest motherboard out there ($290 shipped)

not even sure if the Intel 3210 northbridge is compatible with unRAID

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, I pulled the trigger and got the motherboard and installed it this morning. The install went smoothly and everything booted just fine first time around. I have all the drives hooked up to it and am using the Supermicro AOC-SAT2-MV8 controller. UnRAID boots just fine and all the drives are there, along with a network connection. I ran a parity check right away and speeds were between 60k and 70k all the way through.

 

Here is my total setup so far:

  Norco 4020 case

  Supermicro MBD-X7SBE motherboard

  Intel Pentium E2160 1.8GHz

  G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB)

  Corsair 650w power supply (single rail version)

  3xSeagate 1.5TB (1 used as parity)

  2xSamsung 750GB

  2xSeagate 320GB (1 used as cache)

  2xWD 320GB

  1xSeagate 500GB

  1xSeagate 300GB

 

I also wanted to mention that I finally upgraded my unRAID version from 4.3.2 to 4.4b2 when I changed the mobo. I was really shocked how quick unRAID now boots up. My guess is that boot time was cut in half. All in all, everything went quite well and I will keep an eye on things for the next couple weeks to make sure it is all working good. At this point, I think the extra expense of the mobo was quite worth it  :)

 

One other note: All 3 of my Seagate 1.5TB drives have the SD17 firmware, but I haven't run into any problems yet. Maybe I am lucky??

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One other note: All 3 of my Seagate 1.5TB drives have the SD17 firmware, but I haven't run into any problems yet. Maybe I am lucky??

The buggy firmware version is a time-bomb.... Your odds of concurrent failure of two drives is very high.  Fortunately, you can recover, but if it happens DO NOT proceed without getting advice here.  It is possible to reset the array to think the drives are healthy, but not without some special commands entered at the telnet prompt.

 

If you had a normal RAID5 array, you probably would end up losing all your data, that is why so many people are upset with the buggy firmware from Seagate.

 

Please update the firmware on your disks...  It will be so much easier than recovering from multiple failures later.

Details here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2773.0

 

Joe L.

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Thanks for the update, I been planning to rebuild my unRAID server. sell off my AB9 PRO, and get one of these.

I love the Supermicro boards. They don't overclock, but they are very reliable.

 

WeeboTech, can you please say a little more about why you dislike your AB9 enough to get rid of it?

 

I have an Asus P5PE-VM and have max'd out the drive connections and was interested in replacing it with an AB9 or another recommended motherboard.

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Thanks for the update, I been planning to rebuild my unRAID server. sell off my AB9 PRO, and get one of these.

I love the Supermicro boards. They don't overclock, but they are very reliable.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=23180;topic=269http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=23180;topic=2697.0;sesc=e5d1b179fc9a9569e60b1ced6fc67d3a

Post reply7.0;sesc=e5d1b179fc9a9569e60b1ced6fc67d3a

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WeeboTech, can you please say a little more about why you dislike your AB9 enough to get rid of it?

 

I have an Asus P5PE-VM and have max'd out the drive connections and was interested in replacing it with an AB9 or another recommended motherboard.

 

There's nothing wrong with my ABIT AB9 PRO, I'm not looking to get rid of it because something was wrong.

I've come to the conclusion that I have multiple tiny NAS environments and decided to consolidate everything into my CM Stacker Case with 4 5in3 modules to give me 20 drives.  I've just decided to put more eggs in a larger basket reducing active spindles With the use of Gigabyte I-RAM drives, SSD drives and a large case I can do that.

 

My Centurion 590 + ABiT AB9 Pro + 9 Removable SATA units is a perfect midrange system.  As much as I love it, I see myself outgrowing it.

 

 

 

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There's nothing wrong with my ABIT AB9 PRO, I'm not looking to get rid of it because something was wrong.

I've come to the conclusion that I have multiple tiny NAS environments and decided to consolidate everything into my CM Stacker Case with 4 5in3 modules to give me 20 drives.  I've just decided to put more eggs in a larger basket reducing active spindles With the use of Gigabyte I-RAM drives, SSD drives and a large case I can do that.

 

My Centurion 590 + ABiT AB9 Pro + 9 Removable SATA units is a perfect midrange system.  As much as I love it, I see myself outgrowing it.

 

Thanks.

 

I definitely understand the case size problem but what are the primary advantages you see for the mbd-x7sbe over the AB9 Pro? 

 

The first thing I notice is losing 3 sata connections...

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Thanks.

 

I definitely understand the case size problem but what are the primary advantages you see for the mbd-x7sbe over the AB9 Pro? 

 

The first thing I notice is losing 3 sata connections...

 

For the average person, there is not much of an advantage. In fact it costs more.

 

My choice for moving in the direction is the number of slots and embedded video plus the ability to use IPMI which provides KVM over LAN.

The layout I plan to use with the CM Stacker is 20 internal drives.

I'll remove the Bay that houses the switch which provides an additional Bay (12 bays).

with 4 5in3 modules I can fit 20 drives. With the Supermicro board I can have KVM over IP or use the serial port for redirecting the bios to one of my other machines. By using a terminal emulator and null modem cable I can access the console via serial port.

The supermicro board also has a mode to enable an always power on state so I won't need the power button.

In addition with the PCI-X slots I can use 2 of the super micro 8 port sata boards having 2 more pci ports for gigabyte ram disks

My layout will be

 

2 - Supermicro 8 Port Sata cards for 16 ports.

4 - On board ports for additional drives

2 - On board ports for gigabyte ramdisks. (or 2.5: SSD's)

 

This leaves 2 PCIe ports for external expandability.

 

I did plan on the Norco, but I have the CM Stacker already and it has wheels.

The cost of a rack will be at least $600, so I'll just go with Tower under desk.

Besides that, I've grown to really love the trayless removables even though it will cost me more.

 

I like Supermicro boards because they are rock solid.

I plan to get a 3GHZ duo core processor for it.

It will be an emergency backup to my dual 3ghz xeon work station.

 

My AB9 Pro has been solid too. It's never crashed. Sometimes after powering off, I have to reset it, but once it's booted, I never have issues. I've never had a lockup or crash on it in all the time I've been using it.. (and I beat it up good!)

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I've looked around and never found any power consumption numbers for this motherboard. IIRC the chipset is based on the X38 which has the highest tdp for socket 775 desktop chipsets.  A 15w higher tdp isn't the end of the world, but that's $75 or so after 5 years of 24/7 use.

 

This board is still cost effective per port with a Supermicro card or two. The Marvell chipset is capable of over 600 MB/s on pci-x ports which has got to be great for parity operations.

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Intel chipset TDP list. e5200 + G33 for ATX or G31 for mATX are the best choices. For AMD, a 690/740/760/770/780g with an undervolted and underclocked 45w cpu like a Sempron 1250, X2 4850e, or BE-2300. Those combos will draw 20-25w DC power with any drives attached, which is as good as desktop chipsets and cpus get.

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35078

 

This boards north and south bridges use 25w max according to Intel's site, comparable to a P45 which lacks integrated video. I doubt that includes the PLX chip though. The one on my Tyan measured 55c like the northbridge with an ir temp gun.

 

Buy.com's had this board for $240 shipped for a while now. Not bad at all.

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  • 2 months later...
Guest wolfdv

I too am also using this mobo with my build (norco 4020, e8400, 8gb corsair ram, 2 pci-x supermico 8port cards)

 

i have zero issues at all, everything works perfect, as one would expect

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  • 1 month later...

I finally managed to find one of these at a discount to pair with two cheap SAT2-MV8 controllers I've had all year. The idle power consumption without drives and fans came out to 65w. That's with two MV8 controllers, a Celeron 440, 2x 1gb DDR2 800, and a Seasonic S12 430 (a hair shy of 80+). I seem to recall the controllers being around 5w each, but in any case, I'll get a number for just the mobo/cpu/ram down the road. Maybe when I swap in a Celeron E3200 this fall.

 

 

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Where? Can you post a link?

It was new without warranty and the only one, so I'm warranty-less with everything but the ram and hard drives in this build. Considering how long this well supported X7SBE/MV8s platform could last that might turn out to be a bad thing.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Whatever you do, don't trust Supermicro support to give you the right answer on supporting the E3200. I noted that the E3200 was not on the supported chips list for the C2SEA, so I emailed them. They confirmed that it would not work. Well I had a spare sitting around, so I decided to give it a go. It worked great. I emailed them back to point out their error and they stated that of course it would work as stated on their website. Hmm... My bios was last updated in March 2009.

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