The Supermicro X11DAi-N is a workstation motherboard that can just as easily be used as the base of an office tower server or a rackmount server. The Supermicro X11DAi-N offers plenty of PCIe slots for graphics cards, a Thunderbolt 3.0 port, and audio outputs equip this heavy hitter for workstations. In this review, we are going to see a truly versatile offering that should be on your list of potential motherboards for Intel Xeon Scalable (codenamed “Skylake-SP”) processors. If you are a creative professional, engineer, scientist, or deep learning/ AI researcher and are looking for a workstation motherboard, this should be on your list.

Key Features:

• Intel Xeon Scalable Processors., Dual Socket P (LGA 3647) supported, CPU TDP support 205W, 2 UPI up to 10.4 GT/s
• Intel C621
• Up to 2TB 3DS ECC RDIMM and DDR4-2666MHz, Up to 2TB 3DS ECC LRDIMM, in 16 DIMM slots
• 4 PCIe 3.0 x16,
• 2 PCIe 3.0 x8
• M.2 Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4
• M.2 Form Factor: 2260, 2280, 22110
• M.2 Key: M-Key,
• 2 PCIe 3.0 NVMExpress x4 Internal Port(s)
• 1 VGA port(s)
• Intel C621 controller for 10 SATA3 (6 Gbps) ports; RAID 0,1,5,10
• Dual 1GbE LAN from C621
• Form Factor: E-ATX 12″ x 13″ (30.48cm x 33.02cm)

Supermicro X11DAi-N Workstation/Server Motherboard Overview

Supermicro retail boxes are simple and right to the point. To see what motherboard included, we must look at the label on the side of the box. This method helps to keep costs down but does require some homework on our part to research what boards have what features we want. Realistically, most of these motherboards are going to be purchased by VARs and resellers or will be purchased online so this matter-of-fact packaging model is preferred.