Question 1

Does this board support booting from NVMe?

Accepted Answer

If you mean the M.2 NVMe slot on-board ... yes.  I use a Samsung 950 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD for boot.

Question 2

It comes with Xeon D-1541 ?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does.  The board came with the D-1541 processor and heat sink already in place.  (Purchased around Sept. 2015.)

Intel's ARK site lists the D-1541 with a nominal clock of 2.1 Ghz and burst to 2.7 Ghz.  When my system boots, the BIOS reports a flat 2.0 Ghz as the starting point.  I have not tested burst.

I have generally been very pleased with the board and processor.

Question 3

Buying In 2018, does this board come with 1541 or 1540?

Accepted Answer

Bought one here earlier this year, and it came with a 1541.  Loving this board, makes a great low power home server.

Question 4

Intel claims the 1541 supports DDR4 2400, and the Supermicro site also states this. Anybody try that configuration?

Accepted Answer

I just purchased this board and it boots until the IPMI Initialization green then just sits there like a lemon, does not go any further, on the right hand side of the screen there was a 00 and thats it. I can access basic functions using the IPMI interface and reboot the machine but nothing more. I am also using Micron memory MTA36ASF2G72PZ-2G1B1IG, I am now benign to wonder if it is a memory issue

Question 5

What's the difference between the MBD-X10SDV-TLN4F-O and the MBD-X10SDV-TLN4F?

Accepted Answer

The "-O" is just the basic packaging (aka bulk pack).  It is only coming with the CPU cooler, 6x SATA cables, I/O shield, and the Quick Reference Guide.  No book, no other docs, generic Supermicro box, etc...  Yes, this one has the 2x 10 GbE ports in addition to the 2x 1 Gig ports.  That difference is designated by the "-TLN4F" vs the "-F" option.  The "X10SDV-8C-TLN4F" model does NOT come with the CPU fan, only passively cooled.

Question 6

Some reviews talked about supermicro's locked bios features that requires license key. What features are locked? How does it limit your use of the motherboard?

Accepted Answer

The ICMP functions normally without a license key. The license key (if purchased is tied to the MAC of the ICMP) is only required if you want to apply firmware to the motherboard or ICMP controller itself. These firmware updates can be applied at the console without issue. I own three of these with 128GB RAM for my lab environment running VMware 6.5. You need to apply ixgbe-4.5.3 (from ESXi 6) to get the 10G ports on VMware. Great little boards but the 10G heatsink can run hot so make sure you have proper airflow.

Question 7

How do I get a license key to update the BIOS? I was told to contact my reseller to acquire one.

Accepted Answer

You can buy the license from SuperMicro's website for $30. Lets you do firmware/BIOS updates from the BMC, provides access to the virtual console and lets you mount ISO's over the network

Question 8

can you add a video card to this?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  There is 1 PCIe slot on the motherboard and I'm using this for the video card.  I'm using a Visiontek Radeon 7750 SFF 2GB DDR3 3M card which allows me to drive multiple monitors (I'm using a 4K @ 60hz and old flatscreen at the moment).  Keep in mind if you have a smaller case to make sure you have enough clearance to fit. Mine barely had enough clearance to insert the card in my SUPERMICRO CSE-721TQ-250B Black Mini-Tower Server Case.

Question 9

Does it support TPM 2.0? I see that it lists only TPM 1.2.

Accepted Answer

The product information lists a TPM header but only specifies TPM 1.2.

Question 10

Has anyone measured what how many watts this draws under typical use?

Accepted Answer

Too bad no one has answered this... but in case someone comes looking, some reviews online have tested it and it can draw about 90 watts at 90% load with a M.2 on the board and 128gigs ram.  Very respectable.  My personal experience is with the heat this gives off.  My previous server had an AMD chip and the chip alone had a TDP of 125 watts.  That thing heated the room big time.  Now this little server?  I just don't notice it raising the heat level in the room at all.

Questions & Answers