Question 1

Will this motherboard fit in a standard mini-ITX case or is it limited to rack unit cases?

Accepted Answer

I put mine in a standard mini-ITX case (cooler master in my case).  It will fit fine HOWEVER PLEASE NOTE: The CPU heatsink that comes with this unit (the 4 core version) is passive and is designed to be put into a high-flow air-channeled 1U SuperMicro case.  So even though the heatsink is passive, it needs to be actively cooled.

Since I wasn't using a SuperMicro case I jerry rigged on a  G-Skill RAM cooler (  G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Fans ) which has flexible arms and was able to get it to clamp on to a point inside the case and side of the motherboard in a reasonably stable situation.  Just make sure you don't short anything.  It cools the thing like a champ and gets the surrounding chipsets and RAM with minimal noise.  Been running for a few months now strong.

Question 2

if I connect this 10GB port to a regular consumer 1GB port router will it just default to 1GB or am I going to have compatibility issues?

Accepted Answer

It will come up to 1Gbit just fine.  This is true for any 10GbE port, however I can confirm specifically with this motherboard it works as we're doing that here with it at this very moment -- both ports come up fine at 1Gbit attached to our 1Gbit switch.  Works great!

Question 3

For the last few months SuperMicro has been shipping the X10SDV-4C-TLN2F with the updated D-1521 processor as opposed to the D-1520. Can anyone who has purchased one of these recently from NewEgg verify which processor is being shipped?

Accepted Answer

The one I received in May 2016 was the D-1521 chip though it was still referred to as a D-1520.

Question 4

The picture shows D-1540 CPU and the description says a D-1520.  Which is correct?

Accepted Answer

This photo and part contains a D-1520. Some D-1540 come with a fan on top.

CPU: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1520 @ 2.20GHz (2200.05-MHz K8-class CPU)
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 8 CPUs

Question 5

The picture shows 3 1GBe network connections, but the descriptions shows 3 1GBe and 2 10GBe.  Which is correct?

Accepted Answer

It only has 2 x 10GBe ports. The remaining ethernet port is a dedicated IPMI LAN port used for managing the system.

Questions & Answers