It has now been a full 6 months since the every so successful launch by Intel of the Nehalem EP stable.  Notwithstanding Supermicro now a force to be completely reckoned by took a magnificent bold step on launch day with the infamous quote "an extensive selection of mainboards" .  Yes 39 different mainboards to be found within 31 different solutions.  Now that was then.  Since this announcement we have seen a gradual steady  increase of these successful mainboards and solutions but we will cover this later on within the conclusions.

On the launch of the ATI FirePro V8750 (whow that was a big one) we saw Supermicro's X8DA3 mainboard graciously sneaking its head above the parapet and not even breaking a sweat at the work we threw at it.  We have for some time been trying to get this mainboard reviewed but so many other priorities kept holding us back - until now.

Fundamentally this a board that will suit many pockets and allow many to build firm long term reusable in house solutions.  This is a mainboard that has massive optional upgrade paths allowing so many choices to be made even after it reaches its end of life on what it first set out to complete.

Having looked very closely at Supermicro's X8DAi, the X8SAX and C7X58 mainboards, and please these recall that both these mainboards put up a incredible showing for a first outings.  Both the  X8DAi and X8SAX completely surpassed themselves in performance and importantly upgradability.   Will the X8DA3 have the same momentous impact on us like they had.  Time will tell later on within the article but if our prior experience was anything to go by then we are positive it will be a conqueror.

Therefore lets look into briefly what Supermicro have to say on their current offerings (Our thanks here to Supermicro's PR)

Supermicro Solutions based on Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500/3500 Series

To equip our customers with the best time-to-market advantage possible, Supermicro has provided an extensive selection of motherboards, servers, workstations and blade systems optimized for the new Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series in parallel with the chipset and processor launches. In addition to unsurpassed performance-per-watt and performance-per-dollar, these application-optimized Server Building Block Solutions® also deliver the following feature benefits:

• Up to 144GB DDR3 Memory Support (via 18 Dimms)
• Dual IOH-36D to support up to 72 PCI-E Gen 2.0 Links
• Flexible Combination of UIO Card Support (UIO SAS, 10Gb, 4 X 1Gb, InfiniBand)
• Award-Winning 1U Twin with DDR and QDR InfiniBand Designs
• Onboard IPMI 2.0/KVM with dedicated LAN support
• Onboard SAS 2.0 (6 Gb/s)
• Robust total solution validation for superior quality

Supermicro's complete line of server, workstation and blade solutions enable the highest system-level efficiency available, increasing the attainable computing power per rack and lowering TCO, while helping to keep our earth green!

Supermicro have clearly stipulated "an extensive selection of mainboards" etc.  They most certainly have got this right, therefore it means in turn solutions for all walks of life and most importantly aggressively and competitively priced mainboards.  The complete "win win scenario" for customers. Though more to come on this within the conclusions.

This is going to be a large article with many graph's, pictures and screen shots as the performance has been exceptional on this feature rich mainboard.  Therefore we will get down to some fundamental basics of what this extreme mainboard has to offer.

Key Features
1.         Dual Intel® 5500 series Xeon® Quad/Dual-Core, with QPI up to 6.4 GT/s
2.         Intel® 5520 (Tylersburg) Chipset
3.         Up to 96GB DDR3 1333/ 1066/ 800MHz ECC Registered DIMM / 24GB Unbuffered DIMM
4.         Intel® 82573V/L Dual-port Gigabit  Ethernet Controller
5.         6 X SATA2 (3 Gbps) Ports via ICH10R Controller RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
6.         LSI 1068E 8-Port SAS Controller;  RAID 0, 1, 10; RAID 5 optional
7.         2 (x16) PCI-E 2.0, 1 (x4) PCI-E (in X 8 slot), 3 X PCI 33MHz slots
8.         Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD Audio
9.         2 X IEEE 1394a Headers
10.       IPMI 2.0 (SIMLC) Slot

Physical Stats
1.         Form Factor - Extended ATX
2.         Dimensions - 12" X 13" (30.5cm X 33cm)

Important Chassis Notes 
To ensure system stability, a 550W (minimum) ATX power supply [Two 8-pin (+12V) and 24-pin are required]

The All Important Processor Population Rules
For optimum performance, when two processors are installed, both must be of identical revision, core voltage, and QPI/core speed.   When only one processor is installed, it must be in the socket labelled CPU1. The other socket must be empty.   Processors must be populated in sequential order. Processor socket 1 (CPU1) must be populated before processor socket 2 (CPU2).    No terminator is required in the second processor socket when using a single processor configuration.

Page 1 - Introduction
Page 2 - Introduction Continued
Page 3 - System Build, Set-Up and Software Used
Page 4 - Sandra 2009 SP4 Part 1
Page 5 - Sandra 2009 SP4 - Part 2
Page 6 - Hard Disc Tests
Page 7 - PCMark 2005 Advanced
Page 8 - Bentley MicroStation Graphics Benchmark and POV Ray 3.74 Beta
Page 9 - SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™ and MAXON Cinebench 10
Page 10 - SPECviewperf® 10.0 – 64-bit
Page 11 - Conclusions and Award