Main -> Wish list -> Motherboards -> Uni-processor LGA 1366 Superworkstation motherboard (Single northbridge)
Uni-processor LGA 1366 Superworkstation motherboard
(Single northbridge version)
Updated 03.06.2010
This is the least powerful LGA 1366 system, though should suite about 1/3 of all power users
With two PCIe v2.0 x16 links the system may run 4 graphics cards, three SAS 6G RAID controller and 40GB InfiniBand controller. On the other side, the only QPI link would not be able to handle all the above at a time.
Motherboard specification
Component in bold are mandatory, component in bold italic are for reference only - other with no worse characteristics may by used
Wide (12 slots) eATX board
LGA 1366 processor socket, supporting both consumer and Xeon 3500/3600 series server processors.
Six memory slots, supporting up to 96GB ECC or up to 24GB non-ECC memory
Though LGA 1366 supports up to nine memory slots, the use of nine slots allows only 800MHz memory clock.
Basic chipset
- Intel 5520 northbridge (two PCIe x16 links and one PCIe x4 link)
- Intel ICH10R southbridge (six PCI Express x1 v.1.1 ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, 6 SATA II Ports)
- PLX PEX 8696 "graphics" switch: PCIe x16 link into four PCIe x16 links and one PCIe x8 link
- PLX PEX 8648 "RAID" switch: PCIe x16 link into three PCIe x8 links (PCIe v.2.0 x16 bandwidth is enought to support three RAID cards at nearly full-speed)
- PLX PEX 8614 switch: PCIe x4 link into one PCIe x4, one PCIe x2 and two PCIe x1 links
On-board network
- 40GB Mellanox ConnectX-2 VPI InfiniBand/LAN chip providing 40GB InfiniBand and 10GB LAN connections - using PLX PEX 8696 x8 link
- Intel 82580 Gigabit Ethernet controller - providing four RJ45 LAN ports - using PLX PEX 8614 PCIe x2 link
On-board storage
- LSI LSISAS2008 6Gb/s SAS ROCs (support of hardware RAID 0, 1, 1E, 10) providing 8 SAS ports (two internal miniSAS connectors) - using three PLX PEX 8648 x8 links;
With two additional RAID cards will allow to support up to 8GB/s software RAID over hardware RAID
- Six internal SATA ports from Intel ICH10R;
- jMicron JMB362 controller, providing two eSATA ports - using Intel ICH10R PCIe x1 link
- jMicron JMB362 controller with two jMicron JM20330 SATA-to-IDE bridges, providing two hot swap IDE ports (4 devices) - using Intel ICH10R PCIe x1 link
On-board USB/FireWire
- Two NEC µPD720200 USB 3.0 2-ports Host Controllers - 3 external, one internal USB 3.0 ports - using two PLX PEX 8614 PCIe x1 links;
- eight external, four internal USB 2.0 ports (from Intel ICH10R);
- Texas Instruments TSB83AA23 1394b chip: 2 external and 1 internal IEEE 1394b ports - using Intel ICH10R PCIe x1 link;
On-board Audio
- Realtec ALC888 codec - provides optical and copper S/DPIF, 6-jacks copper I/O and on-board stereo sound I/O - using Intel ICH10R audio channel;
Super I/O
- VIA VT1211 legacy ports chip, providing on-board COM port connector
Expansion slots (left to right - rear view)
PCIe x1 slot (Intel ICH10R)
Graphics PCIe x16 slot (PLX PEX 8696)
Empty
Graphics PCIe x16 slot (PLX PEX 8696)
PCIe x1 slot (Intel ICH10R)
Graphics PCIe x16 slot (PLX PEX 8696)
PCI slot (Intel ICH10R)
Graphics PCIe x16 slot (PLX PEX 8696)
PCIe x1 slot (Intel ICH10R)
PCIe x4 slot (PLX PEX 8614)
PCIe x8 slot (PLX PEX 8648)
PCIe x8 slot (PLX PEX 8648)
I/O panel
One QSFP 40GB InfiniBand port
One SFP+ 10GB LAN port
Four RJ45 LAN ports
Three USB 3.0 ports
Eight USB 2.0 ports
Two eSATA connectors
Two IEEE 1394b port
Optical S/PDIF Out port
Copper S/PDIF Out port
6 x jack ports of audio I/O
On-board connections
Four miniSAS 6G connectors
Six SATA ports
USB 3.0 header (1 port)
2 x 2 port USB 2.0 headers (4 ports)
1 x IEEE 1394b header
CD audio in connector
Front panel audio connector
1 x COM header (with PCI bracket - 1 COM, two USB connectors, two blank replacers to replace the unused COM or USB)
Of cause the board should support at least non-extreme system overcloking.
Note: If the board is planned to be producesed w/o SLI support, the on-board PLX PEX 8696 switch may be replaced by PLX PEX 8664 switch, providing four "graphics" PCIe x8 links wired to x16 slots (AMD cards work fine with PCIe v.2.0 x8) plus one PCIe x8 link
Special note for motherboard vendors:
The idea is free for use by any motherboards vendor, but I hope to get about $12000 bonus (in cash or mutually agreed hardware) as a "Thank you" for the useful idea.