Tyan was the first to show us specs of their upcoming E5-2400 based server motherboards recently. The LGA1356 platform is the successor to the LGA1366 platform which was the mainstay dual Xeon platform for years. For those that are wondering about the difference between LGA 2011 and LGA 1356 platforms, the LGA 2011 gets quad channel memory while the LGA 1356 platform gets tri-channel memory, just like the LGA 1366 platform did. Processor pricing and segmentation is largely similar as can be seen on the Intel Xeon E5 series page. Let’s take a look at the new Xeon E5-2400 series boards from Tyan:
Tyan pairs dual Intel Xeon E5-2400 series CPUs (with the new LGA1356 socket) with familiar chipsets (C60x series) that we saw previously debut with the Xeon E5-2600 series to make both S7040 and S7045 motherboards. Tyan then varies the features on each of those motherboards to target each to different segments.
Tyan S7040 Dual Xeon E5-2500 Series Motherboards
The Tyan S7040 platform aligns the CPUs in parallel so you will need to make sure that there is sufficient airflow going through the chassis to push air through both CPU cooling assemblies. Also, these boards use the Intel Patsburg C602 chipset versus a LSI controller.
- S7040GM2NR – 2x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7040WGM2NR – 2x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SAS, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7040GM4NR – 4x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7040G2NR – 2x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST1300
BTO Motherboards usually have longer lead times to purchase since they are “build to order” so do not expect to find these variants sitting on a retailer’s shelf.
- S7040WGM4NR(BTO) – 4x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SAS, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7040WGM2NR5(BTO) – 2x GbE, 9 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SAS, 2x PCIe x8 (x8 and x4 electrical), 1x PCIe x16 (x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
The Tyan S7040 motherboards are the smaller footprint of SSI-CEB (12×10.5″) which makes it easy to find a chassis that will accept boards. Tyan gives the boards nine DDR3 DIMM slots which limits the RAM capacity to 288GB still a very respectable amount, but much lower than the LGA 2011 boards we have seen. The Tyan S7040 platform seems to also have limited expansion slots available and is better suited to a smaller server, where multiple GPUs or SAS controllers will not be a high priority. Instead the Tyan S7045 series might be better suited to those needing expansion options.
Tyan S7045 Dual Xeon E5-2500 Series Motherboards
With the Tyan S7045 motherboard series, Tyan offsets both of the Intel Xeon E5-2400 LGA 1356 sockets providing more efficient cooling. Interestingly enough, unlike with dual Xeon E5-2600 series motherboards, Tyan puts all DIMMs to one side of the CPU. We have become very accustomed to E5-2600 series LGA 2011 based motherboards with DIMMs flanking either side of the CPU. Like the S7040, these boards use the Intel Patsburg C602 chipset versus a LSI controller.
- S7045WGM4NR – 4x GbE, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SAS, 3x PCIe x8 (two x8 and one x4 electrical), 2x PCIe x16 (x16 and x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7045GM4NR – 4x GbE, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 3x PCIe x8 (two x8 and one x4 electrical), 2x PCIe x16 (x16 and x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7045WGM2NR – 2x GbE, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 3x PCIe x8 (two x8 and one x4 electrical), 2x PCIe x16 (x16 and x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
- S7045AG2NR – 2x GbE, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SATA, 3x PCIe x8 (two x8 and one x4 electrical), 2x PCIe x16 (two x16 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
Again, BTO Motherboards usually have longer lead times to purchase since they are “build to order” so do not expect to find these variants sitting on a retailer’s shelf.
- S7045WGM2NR5 (BTO) – 2x GbE, 12 DDR3 DIMM slots, 2x 6.0gbps SATA , 8x 3.0gbps SAS, 3x PCIe x8 (two x8 and one x4 electrical), 2x PCIe x16 (x16 and x8 electrical) and 1 PCI slot, Aspeed AST2300
The Tyan S7045 motherboards come in a much larger SSI-EEB format (12×13″) which gives the board more space for extra expansion options versus the smaller SSI-CEB format of the Tyan S7040 boards. Also, with more PCB area, Tyan gives six DIMMs per CPU which brings the maximum RAM is up to 384GB, a little more than the slightly smaller S7040 series. The trend towards these larger motherboard sizes with the Intel Xeon E5 generation is moving the market away from smaller server platforms that could easily fit in a normal tower chassis and instead one really wants to ensure these larger boards are in a rackmount chassis at this point.
All in all, Intel is putting out some very interesting CPUs with the, the new Intel Xeon E3-1200 v2 series, the Intel Xeon E5-2600 series, the Intel Xeon E5-2400 series and the UP E5-1600 series CPUs. Those building servers and workstations have a lot of options to choose from these days.
