SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCI-LN4-O LGA 1155 Intel C204 ATX Intel Xeon E3 Server Motherboard

Pros: + Only has what you would need for a server.
+ Tech support is slow but reads your problem and inteligently responds.

Cons: - Didn't recognize my DVD for boot: needed a bootable usb.
- Needed an old cpu so I could flash the firmware to work with the Ivy Bridge CPU. (*** FLASH has 2 STEPS!!! *** be sure to follow the instructions fully.)
- Has an undocumented jumper (Labeled JPME1) on the board.

Other Thoughts: Need a spare old CPU to get it to run the lastest CPUs (Ivy Bridge). Flashing involved flashing the BIOS and the ME with a reboot in between. This is the first time I have to flash a MB in two steps. That's why my tech knowlege is not a 5 ;) The board has what I need and should work well for 5+ years. (This replaces my earlier review because I didn't do the second step in flashing... oops)

Pros: Only has what you would need for a server.
My other SuperMicro has been running for years.

Cons: - Didn't recognize my DVD for boot: needed a bootable usb.
- Needed an old cpu so I could flash the firmware to work with the Ivy Bridge CPU.
- Has an undocumented jumper (Labeled JPME1) on the board that needs to be enabled for all my 16GB of mem (which is two sets of memory ON THE COMPATIBILITY list) to be recognized. (sorry if this violates "techniques not mentioned specifically in the original product documentation" but people should know.

Other Thoughts: I'm "working" with tech support to ACTUALLY get the board I ordered, maybe through a swap, since I have a jumper that does not exist, BUT: I need the jumper to recognize all the memory and it takes 48 hours for them to respond to each reply. I may have given it 4 stars but to not support the listed supported memory except by using a jumper that tech support "does not find" is over the top. I hope to update this review if the board lasts that long.

Pros: Inexpensive, SATA 6.0gb/s, onboard LSI/Intel RAID.

Cons: ACPI_BIOS_ERROR 0x000000A5 every time onboard RAID is configured, cannot use PCI-E slot for add-in RAID card, even with current BIOS update. Supermicro support very slow to respond to anything.

Other Thoughts: I have been working with Supermicro support (if you can call what they've been doing "working") for several weeks now, with not a single solution or suggestion from them as to how to fix the actual problem. I've had to determine the cause myself, try possible solutions (that I've come up with) myself, and wait on their responses (take well over a day, if not several days to respond). Support has been absolutely unhelpful. Am about to have to return the board before RMA period expires, which translates to two more weeks before I'm able to put server in production. If you plan on using RAID, don't buy this board. This is upsetting, since prior to this occasion I've had good experiences with Supermicro.