Question 1

Can I use this with a standard tower case or will I need a server case?

Accepted Answer

Since this is an ATX form factor board you shouldn't have any problems with a tower case provided that the case in question is made to use ATX boards. The CPU coolers clearing the backs of your drives in a tower config might be a bit tight. It should work if you pick coolers with a low enough profile (at the recommended thermal performance, still, for your CPUs).

Good luck!

Question 2

Hello,
I want to get this motherboard but need to find how i can find compatible units of the following for this server:  Case, 48 GB memory, disk  and CPUs?

Accepted Answer

This is a standard ATX so your case selection is vast. I put this board into my In-win D Frame and I still had an inch to spare on the closest side which I kind of regret as this board maxes out at 96gbs of ram. The rest were E-ATX boards which might have fit my ATX case and give me more room for upgrading ram.

As for memory I went with two ecc registered Kingston 16gb ddr3 server sticks that I haven't put through their paces and are showing up fine. Again, there's a large selection for socket 1366 Intel Xeon 5500 and 5600 Series cpus. I had two x5675 Xeons that booted up fine with the bios and now run Windows 8.1 pro 64bit. Boot time 54 seconds to Windows desktop stock.

Except for the cpus my whole tower components to ordered all from Newegg. I've ordered from them since 2003 so they set the bar as to what I need for my computers. I got the best deal for my motherboard, tower, power supply, ram, ssd, pci ssd, blueray, cooling, video card, fans, and heatsinks from Newegg and no I am just a customer. Even Fry's brick and mortar store doesn't get me the quality and cost I'm looking for. Maybe cause in 12 years I've only rma'd two items while building 8 computers. Some for friends and family and everyone has been happy.

This latest build I can only say is running silky smooth with my limited experience with this motherboard. So if you stick to the motherboard's parameters it should come to life.

Question 3

Is it true this board will take regular desktop triple channel ram??
Has any one tried to mackintosh it??

Accepted Answer

this takes only ECC ram

Question 4

Does this board accept Fully Buffered DIMMs?

Accepted Answer

If by fully buffered you mean registered, then yes. I'm using ECC registered RAM with this motherboard.

Product SKUs
MBD-X8DAL-i -O	X8DAL-i (Standard Retail Pack)
MBD-X8DAL-i -B	X8DAL-i (Bulk Pack)
Physical Stats
Form Factor	ATX
Dimensions	12" x 10" (30.5cm x 25.4cm)
Processor/Cache
CPU	Dual 1366-pin LGA Sockets Supports up to two Intel® 64-bit Xeon® processor(s) of the same type below: Intel® Xeon® Processor X5600/E5600/L5600 Series (Westmere) 40W - 95W Intel® Xeon® Processor X5500/E5500/L5500 Series (Nehalem-EP) 38W - 95W
QPI	up to 6.4 GT/s
System Memory
Memory Capacity	6x 240-pin DIMM slots Supports up to 96 GB 1333 / 1066 / 800MHz DDR3 ECC Registered memory Supports up to 24 GB 1333 / 1066 / 800MHz DDR3 ECC / Non ECC Unbuffered memory Memory Mirroring supported
Memory Type	1333 / 1066 / 800MHz ECC Registered / ECC or Non ECC Unbuffered DDR3 SDRAM 72-bit, 240-pin gold-plated DIMMs
DIMM Sizes	1GB, 2GB, 4GB , 8GB , 16GB
Memory Voltage	1.5 V / 1.35V
Error Detection	Corrects single-bit errors Detects double-bit errors (using ECC memory) Supports Intel® x4 and x8 Single Device Data Correction (SDDC)
On-Board Devices
Chipset	Intel® 5500 (Tylersburg) chipset ICH10R + IOH-24D
SATA	Intel ICH10R SATA 3.0Gbps Controller RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support (Windows) RAID 0, 1, 10 support (Linux)
Network Controllers	2x Intel® 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controllers Supports 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T, RJ45 output
Audio	Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD audio
Super I/O	Winbond 83827HF chip
Input / Output
Serial ATA	Six Serial ATA ports Six SATA hard drives supported
LAN	2x RJ45 LAN ports
USB	4x USB rear ports 2x USB internal headers (4 ports) Total 8 USB 2.0 Compliant
Audio	Realtek ALC883 7.1 HD audio
Keyboard / Mouse	PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
Serial Port / Header	1 Fast UART 16550 serial port 1 Fast UART 16550 serial header (Option)
System BIOS
BIOS Type	32Mb SPI Flash EEPROM with AMI® BIOS
BIOS Features	Plug and Play (PnP) PCI 2.2 ACPI up to 3.0 USB Keyboard support

Brand	SUPERMICRO
Model	MBD-X8DAL-i-O

CPU Socket Type	Dual LGA 1366
CPU Type	Dual Intel Xeon 5600/5500 Series
QPI	Up to 6.4 GT/s

North Bridge	Intel 5500
South Bridge	ICH10R + IOH-24D

Number of DDR3 Slots	6 x 240pin
DDR3 Standard	DDR3 1333
Maximum Memory Supported	96GB
ECC Supported	Yes
Registered	Yes

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX Dual Intel Xeon 5500 and 5600 Series Server Motherboard

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O Server Motherboard

Features

Specifications

Whats in the Box

Learn more about the Supermicro MBD-X8DAL-i-O

Customer Reviews of the Supermicro MBD-X8DAL-i-O

Warranty & Returns

Warranty, Returns, And Additional Information

Warranty

Return Policies

Manufacturer Contact Info

PCI Express 2.0 x16	1
PCI Express x4	1 (x4) PCI-E 2.0 (in x16 slot) 1 (x4) PCI-E
PCI Slots	2x 33MHz PCI slots

SATA	6 x SATA 3.0Gb/s
SATA RAID	RAID 0/1/5/10 support (Windows) RAID 0/1/10 support (Linux)

LAN Chipset	Intel 82574L
LAN Speed	10/100/1000Mbps
Second LAN Chipset	Intel 82574L
Second LAN Speed	10/100/1000Mbps
Max LAN Speed	2 x 1Gbps

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset	Realtek ALC883
Audio Channels	8 Channels

Dimensions
Form Factor	ATX
Dimensions (W x L)	12" x 10"

Item#: N82E16813182192