Supermicro X9DA7 | In-Depth Review of the Ultimate Dual Xeon IvyBridge Workstation Motherboard

In this video, I want to do an in-depth review of one of my favorite workstation motherboards from the IvyBridge era. This is a rather rare motherboard, and it is the Supermicro X9DA7. If you’ve been with my channel since the beginning, you know that I often showcase rack mount servers like the Dell PowerEdge R series and Supermicro servers. However, over the years while chatting with people who come to my eBay store, I’ve come to realize that many people prefer a home server build using desktop PC form factors. That’s the whole reason behind the videos I made about the HP Z workstations. This got me thinking more and more about components that would make for a great server build in a typical PC case. On top of that, most home servers are primarily storage servers, and this Supermicro X9DA7 fits that bill really well because it has an onboard LSI SAS2308 based controller. So if you want to know more about this motherboard, watch this video until the end, or if you're looking for specific information, use the timestamps below.
Timestamps:
1:21 - Introducing the X9DA7 and decoding the name
2:24 - E-ATX form factor
3:10 - Intel C602 Patsburg platform and supported CPUs
4:36 - Supported Memory / RAM
7:09 - How to choose the right memory
14:14 - PCIe slots
16:57 - PCIe port bifurcation demonstration (doesn't work)
23:39 - Onboard LSI SAS2308 SAS controller
26:16 - I-SATA and S-SATA ports
27:25 - Fan Control
28:38 - USB ports
30:04 - Rear I/O
30:52 - Final thoughts
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[@jeffcrowe4899]

Love these Boards! I was able to pick up a couple of these from a local shop tossing some "dead end" hardware. I use 2 out of the 4 I picked up for my kids and their friends VM gaming rigs!

[@ArtofServer]

That's awesome! These are hard to find now... thanks for watching!

[@JasonsLabVideos]

That's a nice board & Review sir !! Keep them coming !! Supermicro boards are my Fav !

[@ArtofServer]

Thanks! Will do!

[@CMDRSweeper]

So true, I can't justify the cost of rackmounting my two home server boxes, especially when they live in old desktop cases that are products of me upgrading throughout the years. Of course this gets people like me interested in a way of getting 2 CPUs in the machine with the PCIe lanes to boot.

[@ArtofServer]

Yup... dual socket all the way! LOL ... I've been running dual socket machines since about Pentium Pro days. Even my old Sun machines were dual CPU.

[@Doesntcompute2k]

Fantastic review! I've been looking at this X9D series as that, "flashing cards," bare workstation. Seems to be a good choice, too, for multiple SAS controllers to rapidly reformat (520b to 512b blocks) and test drives. I have a stack of 60 that needs reformatting.

[@ArtofServer]

For mass reformatting, I think a SAS expander setup may be more economical. You don't need the high throughput for reformatting. Thanks for watching!

[@shadowr2d2]

Thank you for posting this video 🎉. You have a new 😊subscriber. Keep up the great work 🎉.

[@ArtofServer]

Thanks for your kind words 🙏 Welcome to my channel 😊

[@willemkernkamp809]

You can put two RDIMMs per channel and enforce 1866 in bios. This will run reliably.

[@ArtofServer]

that's very interesting. i may have to try that and test it for myself.

[@frankwalder3608]

What I really want is a server with a pair of Skylakes, but I can’t afford that. My first server has a pair of Hazwells. I hope to upgrade them to Broadwells. I believe my second server will also have two Broadwells, but I will need another electrical circuit in my 83 year old house to accommodate a second server. That was really informative about the bifurcation affecting the NVMe sticks on a single card. You saved me from a big headache some time in the future. I decided to re-watch your X9DRD-7LN4F video from a couple of years ago. The best part of that video was your discussion of air-flow. That video prompted me to research BMC/IPMI technology. Super micro makes those cards that could be installed on an X9DA7. My question applicable to both videos is, what is the difference between 8087, 8084 and 8639 connectors?

[@ArtofServer]

Thanks for watching! If you need help understanding SAS connectors, checkout this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYiXYmx-rLpqqck

[@GeoffSeeley]

@14:30 THIS is the reason I switched from consumer boards to Supermicro server boards. There was never enough PCIe slots or they were shared. It wasn't until the 1st gen Threadripper that this started to change but that was still a high end of the consumer space.

[@ArtofServer]

yup... i can't tell you how many times someone comes to my store asking, "I need an HBA, but I only have a PCIe x1 slot left.... " LOL thanks for watching!

[@OVERKILL_PINBALL]

I think the SuperMicro S2600CO motherboard is a strong contender as well. I use it as a beastly ESXi server with 192GB ram and 20 cores/40 threads. This is also the C602 chipset and very similar to the X9DA7. The nice thing about the S2600CO is that it has VGA built in so you don't lose a PCIe slot.

[@ArtofServer]

I don't know of Supermicro S2600CO?

[@OVERKILL_PINBALL]

@@ArtofServer Check it out, they are workth investigating...same reasons as this board you reviewed

[@wannabesq]

The S2600 board line is made by Intel, not Supermicro. Supermicro does make most of its boards with integrated graphics, this workstation board is the exception.

[@OVERKILL_PINBALL]

@@wannabesq Thank you for the correction, agree.

[@dogshome7110]

I've just got the XDA7 E version which is minus the SAS controller. 2x E5-2697V2 which are £30 right now, although the 2696 is now incredibly cheap at £16. Booting from NVME on a PCIE card via a USB stick on UEFI - Clover. Standard 3.3 BIOS. I'll try the bifurcation in case it works with my SAS-less version. Very well thought out and cool running board. The BIOS is very unfriendly SET X MODE and the help is "Sets X mode" !! In terms of multithread performance and PCIe speed it puts my remanufactured Chinese "X79" single CPU to shame. Although that has been stone reliable for 2 years so far. E5-2689 8 core CPU. That is getting £16 and 12 core upgrade of 2696 V2 when it arrives! A faster 8 core CPU Xeon DDR3 CPU exists which improves the single threading for gaming, but I don't do much of that. Thanks for the infor and explanation of RAM (which is not immediately obvious from the manual).

[@ArtofServer]

Thanks for sharing your experience! yeah, the X9DA-series are very nice boards and very stable. Really wish they got the bifurcation to work though. Glad this video was helpful! Thanks for watching!

[@piotrharryh]

Great video, I use Supermicro X9DRi-LN4+ in my Unraid server and bitfurnication on Asus Hyper m.2 works great in 3.3 version of BIOS.

[@ArtofServer]

That's awesome! yeah, i heard some X9 boards PCIe port bifurcation works with the 3.3 BIOS, but some don't... this one unfortunately didn't. Thanks for watching!

[@grahamleiper1538]

Liked this board (had DAi with HBA) but have gone to X10SL7 Haswell and single processor to reduce my power consumption.

[@ArtofServer]

Cool. thanks for watching! :-)

[@caspersmith7112]

want one now

[@ArtofServer]

A beautiful board isn't it?

[@entrustcyber]

Another Awesome video! Should I buy this motherboard or Supermicro X9DRH-7F Rev 1.02 v2? I jumped right from your another video. :)

[@ArtofServer]

Considering the X9DA7 is very hard to find, yeah, I think the X9DRH-7F is something that is available now. If you need it with IT mode controller, the one I sell in my store is already modified and fully tested.

[@malexejev]

check out the X10DRG-Q board - it's completely crazy. I chose it for my homelab build couple yrs ago. its next gen (xeon v3, ddr4) but these components are still relatively cheap. pros: crazy expandability. cons: huge non-standard size, pretty hard to find proper case for it (although possible).

[@ArtofServer]

That's a very interesting board, but like you said, can be difficult to fit in standard computer cases. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :-)

[@Gastell0]

Generally the only downside of this motherboard is lack of IPMI/BMC, also there are angled SFF-8087 cables, so even if chassis is not friendly for these ports, you can work around it. This motherboard pairs incredibly with SC745 chassis, especially of newer revision with rear PCI fan support, which goes well into FAN-A port

[@ArtofServer]

completely agree. thanks for watching!

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

The A stands for audio in this case, I believe

[@ArtofServer]

I wonder if that's where the "A" comes from? On Supermicro's website, they just say "A = Workstation" ( ref: www.supermicro.com/products/Product_Naming_Convention/Naming_MBD_Intel_DP.cfm )

[@PicaDelphon]

I been looking for a good dual socket workstation/server motherboard and have seen these on ebay for a few months, and need the Good one for my use but I need more x16 slots, time for me to Build a super work horse workstation...

[@ArtofServer]

The "workstation" class machines tend to have more x16 slots. There are very nice server boards too, but the x16 slots are limited.

[@PicaDelphon]

@@ArtofServer Lets Say I am Working on a Special Graphics Work with Many Types of vGPU's in it and CPU Cores to Push my setup... The VR/VM Server vGPU cards ...I am still looking for a Quad Socket w/ (12) full x16 3.0 full x16 use..

[@spikedagod]

Im over here trying to find a dual socket motherboard for the dual e5 2640 v4s I have laying around. I have a case that supports up to an EATX motherboard. Any input would be greatly appreciated 😊

[@ArtofServer]

I would look at some of the Supermicro X10DR* series motherboards. There are many options with different configurations. The ones with -F at the end have out of band IPMI management which is useful for servers. There's also the Gigabyte MD70-HB0 which I've used in the past and is pretty loaded with features.

[@matthewwildrick9643]

I'm looking at an X9DRi-LN4F in a 486 chassis as my first server build (unraid). Quick question. Would consumer-grade GPUs be compatible with this motherboard? Anything i look up around X9s and GPUs talks about enterprise Tesla A100s and thats quite out of budget :)

[@ArtofServer]

I don't know about the X9DRi-LN4F. I don't see why it would be a problem. On the X9DA7, I have used "gaming" GPUs without any issues.

[@McCuneWindandSolar]

man only if it was cheaper. I'm looking for a server board I can use to build an over kill Blue Iris security camera server. Would like to know if the telsa gpu's would work OK to decode video, and deep stack AI. I want to max out the futures of Blue Iris. So many tell me to just buy a premade system yet those systems do not offer anything close to what Blue Iris dose. But with Blue Iris being a windows system, it eats up a lot of CPU power and even with quick synce it still eats processor when you have AI and other futures active ect. I want to build a power full security camera system.

[@Doesntcompute2k]

Supermicro X9DRH-7F Dual Socket XEON LGA2011 Extended ATX Server Motherboard 👍👍👍

[@McCuneWindandSolar]

@@Doesntcompute2k I like the board because I don't have to use and extended case, and could use my Rosewill computer case but like a few more x16 slots. I have aSUPERMICRO X9DRI-LN4F+ in a supermicro case. but I dont want another supermicro case I want custom kinda case for drive storage.

[@ArtofServer]

yeah, this board is rare, so it's prices on the used market are jacked up. Checkout the X9DRH-7F. I made a video about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKqcapqQZ5ylq5o And it's available in my store modified with IT mode firmware already. Thanks for watching!

[@sabkarim]

Awesome...A question please. I have a Supermicro X10DAL-i Motherboard with 2 Intel Xeon CPU E5-2630 V4 2.20GHz , is there a way to mount an SSD PCIe NVMe U.2 on the PCI-e card (CPU1 SLOT5 PCI-E 3.0 X16)? Could you please let me know? Thank you in advance!

[@ArtofServer]

It should be possible if you use a U.2 to PCIe adapter board.

[@sabkarim]

@@ArtofServer Thank you so much for your reply...much appreciated!

[@x.b.o9467]

No DDR4? Can I mount a DDR 4 RAM ? What a bout a nvme ssd Slot ? I don't see any there in the board .

[@leonardotoschi585]

You needs a case for extended atx

[@ArtofServer]

Yes, that is true.

[@0w784g]

Is there a DDR4-era board similar to this?

[@ArtofServer]

Indeed. Take a look at the Supermicro X10DAC. It has a SAS3008 onboard controller.

[@shawsplace-876networking5]

How much does a board like that cross with both CPUs low powered and Abode 16 GB memory estimated price

[@ArtofServer]

This board is very rare (as mentioned) so it's hard to find at a good price.

[@tekminute]

I wanted to get this board, but is it me or old server boards going up in price.....$600 - 1500

[@ArtofServer]

I think that happens with some boards that are just rare to begin with. This is a pretty rare board.

[@tekminute]

@@ArtofServer thank you for your reply, a few years back these boards were more reasonable, I needed to replace a board I destroyed I accidentally dropped a screw driver on to the board while it was on, I wanted this board because it’s a standard EATX and it will fit in the case I have rather than the EEATX that don’t quite fit in my case but I made it work….it looks like I will have to get the fractal 7XL case cause Supermicro case are about $700 -1200, for that case

[@neccros007]

X9 is 9th gen?? I have a X9 in my pfsense box and its far from 9th gen... Also my TrueNAS box is a X11 and its based on Coffee Lake which is 8th/9th gen.... Or did I miss something?

[@saccharide]

9th gen Xeon dating from the Pentium 2 era. In contrast, the 1st generation of Core i7s (LGA1366) would be equivalent to the 8th (X8) Xeon platform

[@neccros007]

@@saccharide so what is my E-2236 considered?? Supermicro calls it 9th gen

[@saccharide]

@@neccros007 Supermicro codes it as part of X11 although X11 spans several years equivalent to 6th to 9th Gen. Core and not all LGA1151 CPUs are compatible as there's two kinds of LGA1151 CPUs/chipsets

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

X1 was Pentium 2 as Saccharide said

[@amdintelxsniperx]

lol at the 700 to 1k price tag fort this board used

[@stevedoescomputerstuff]

Luckily the x9dai is around 100 bucks and only looks to be missing 1/2 of the onboard sas.

[@Doesntcompute2k]

@@stevedoescomputerstuff maybe the Supermicro X9DRH-7F Dual Socket XEON LGA2011?

[@stevedoescomputerstuff]

@@Doesntcompute2k that looks to be the server version of the da7 board, very similar and equally compares in price to the dai on ebay. Would have to do a deep dive on comparing features to be sure.

[@ArtofServer]

yeah, this particular board is rare and I only found this one after a 3yr search. it ended up on my door step in non-working condition and I had to repair it. it now works perfectly, but I got lucky. very difficult to find this board at a decent price, even if you could find one.