Joining the Intel Xeon E5-2400 series launch is Gigabyte with a few new dual socket LGA 1356 motherboards. Gigabyte is working to enter the US market with its server boards having already established itself as a major player on the desktop enthusiast segment. Let’s have a look at what Gigabyte has to offer in terms of the dual socket Xeon E5 server motherboards.
Gigabyte GA-7PESE3 and GA-7PESE4
Gigabyte’s first set of dual Intel Xeon E5-2400 series motherboards follow a very interesting layout. One can see the PCIe x8 slot behind the rear IO ports. Clearly this board is meant for low profile rackmount chassis with risers. The side-by-side CPU designs with memory on the outer edges usually is considered the easiest to cool with mid-chassis cooling fans and passive heatsinks on the CPUs.
Specifications:
| Dimension | EEB 330W x 305H (mm) |
| CPU | Dual LGA1356 Socket Supports Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400 product family |
| Chipset | Intel® C602 |
| Memory | 12 x DDR3 DIMM slots Tri channel architecture Up to 384 RDIMM ECC Up to 96GB UDIMM ECC 1600/1333 MHz |
| LAN | Quad GbE LAN (Intel® i350) 1 x Management LAN |
| Video | ASPEED® AST2300 supports 16MB VRAM |
| SAS | 2 x mini-SAS for 8 x SAS 3Gb/s Intel® SW RAID 0/1/10 |
| SATA | 2 x SATA III 6Gb/s 4 x SATA II 3Gb/s SW RAID 0/1/10/5 |
| RAID Function | Intel® SW SATA RAID 0/1/10/5 Intel® SW SAS RAID 0/1/10 |
| Expansion Slots | 2 x PCIe x16 (@Gen3 x16 bus) slot 1 x PCIe x8 (@Gen3 x8 bus) slots |
| Back Panel Connectors | 4 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x VGA port 1 x COM port 4 x RJ45 1 x Management LAN port 1 x ID button |
| Server Management | ASPEED® AST2300 IPMI 2.0, iKVM |
| PSU Connector | 12V multiple output 3 x SSI 12V 8 pin power connector |
The Gigabyte GA-7PESE4 (rev. 1.0) is the Quad 1GbE LAN version of this board, and the Gigabyte GA-7PESE3 (rev. 1.0) is the dual Gigabit NIC version which seem to be the main differences.
Gigabyte GA-7PESLX and GA-7PESL
The next set of dual Intel Xeon E5-2400 series motherboards from Gigabyte are the GA-7PESLX and GA-7PESL motherboards. These boards follow a more traditional design with the two CPU sockets offset with the memory sockets. The PCIe 3.0 slots are all at the bottom of the motherboard in standard locations and the SFF-8087 connectors are where we would expect them to be also on a standard server motherboard layout.
Specifications:
| Dimension | EATX (305 x 330 mm) |
| CPU | Dual LGA1356 Sockets Supports Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400 product family |
| Chipset | Intel® C602 Chipset |
| Memory | 12 x DDR3 DIMM slots Tri channel memory architecture Up to 384GB RDIMM ECC Up to 96GB UDIMM ECC 1600(1.5V)/1333/1066MHz |
| LAN | 2 x Intel® 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller support daul GbE LAN ports 1 x Management LAN |
| Video | Integrated in Aspeed 2300 |
| SAS | 2 x mini-SAS connectors (for 8 x SAS 6Gb/s ports via LSI SAS 2008) |
| SATA | 2 x SATA III 6Gb/s ports 4 x SATA II 3Gb/s ports |
| RAID Function | Intel SW RAID 0,1,5,10 LSI SAS RAID 0,1,10 |
| Expansion Slots | 2 x PCIe x16 (@Gen3 x16 bus) slots 1 x PCIe x8 (@Gen3 x4 bus) slot 1 x PCIe x8 (@Gen2 x4 bus) slot 1 x PCIe x4 (@Gen2 x1 bus) |
| Internal I/O Connectors | 4 x USB 2.0 headers |
| Back Panel Connectors | 4 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x VGA port 1 x COM port 3 x RJ45 |
| Server Management | ASPEED 2300 IPMI 2.0 with iKVM |
The Gigabyte GA-7PESLX (rev. 1.0) has a LSI SAS2008 SAS controller, the Gigabyte GA-7PESL (rev. 1.0) does not otherwise these motherboards have similar specs.
Gigabyte GA-7PCSL
The Gigabyte GA-7PCSLfollows another fairly standard layout with a few exceptions, the most notable being the ATX power connectors location being at the bottom of the motherboard. The in-line CPUs are generally more difficult to cool passively because the second CPU in line is being cooled with the warm air traveling past the first CPU. Also spotted is a PCI slot which is becoming an increasingly rare sight on the Intel Xeon E5 motherboards.
Specifications:
| Dimension | CEB (305 x 267 mm) |
| CPU | Dual LGA1356 Sockets Supports Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2400 product family |
| Chipset | Intel® C602 Chipset |
| Memory | 8 x DDR3 DIMM slots Tri channel memory architecture Up to 256GB RDIMM ECC Up to 64GB UDIMM ECC 1600(1.5V)/1333/1066MHz |
| LAN | 2 x Intel® 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller support dual GbE LAN ports 1 x Management LAN |
| Video | Integrated in Aspeed 2300 |
| SAS | 2 x mini-SAS connectors (for 8 x SAS 3Gb/s ports) |
| SATA | 2 x SATA III 6Gb/s ports 4 x SATA II 3Gb/s ports |
| RAID Function | Intel SW RAID 0,1,5,10 |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x PCIe x16 (@Gen3 x16 bus) slot 1 x PCIe x16 (@Gen3 x8 bus) slot 1 x PCIe x8 (@Gen3 x4 bus) slot 1 x PCI 32/33MHz slot |
| Internal I/O Connectors | 4 x USB 2.0 headers |
| Back Panel Connectors | 4 x USB 2.0 ports 1 x VGA port 1 x COM port 3 x RJ45 |
| Server Management | ASPEED 2300 IPMI 2.0, iKVM |
Here is a link to the Gigabyte GA-7PCSL (rev. 1.0) motherboard in the event that you wnat to investigate further.
Conclusion
Overall, an interesting mix of motherboards. ServeTheHome may be getting one of these Sandy Bridge-EN motherboards in the lab to test out. It will be interesting to see which management package Gigabyte has decided to use. To me a good overall server/ workstation board, nothing exceptional on these but lots of server features, so many good boards coming from all manufacturers lately and competition is always good for the industry. Obviously these boards are all being produced based on user feedback in certain segments.
