First look at the new Intel Xeon D-1541 Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T

Supermicro has a reputation for stable servers, void of BIOS tweaks that could affect stability. My last 7 months of Supermicro SYS-5028D-TN4T mini-tower ownership have held up to those expectations, including 3 other systems I unboxed and tested heavily as well. The initial BIOS 1.0a even allows boot from NVMe, but I suspect most folks have moved to 1.0b by now, done for you in certain bundles, where up to 128GB of added DDR4 RAM is pre-tested for you.

Beginning the week of February 22 2016, placing your order for one of these bundles will likely get you one of these newer Xeon D-1541 CPUs.

So today, you're getting a TinkerTry exclusive sneak preview of what's in store this month. I strongly suspect many blogs will also have similar information available very soon. Why? Because the popularity of this rising star in the Xeon line continues to grow.

This is a first look the long anticipated arrival of the modest Intel Xeon D-15400 speed boost. My initial impression is relief, for the following reasons:

• the part #s don't change at all, it's still the SYS-5028D-TN4T system, with the X10SDV-TLN4F motherboard pre-installed in the CSE-721TQ-250B chassis

• this also means the process of retesting OSs is negligible, especially if it turns out that we can use this same BIOS 1.0c on our existing Xeon D-1540 systems (that cannot be assumed, and note that SR-IOV won't likely ever show up on the Xeon D-1540, even with 1.0c

• it's only been 7 months since the Xeon D-1540 first arrived, but folks like me who proudly own that system aren't likely to be kicking ourselves for not waiting, since it's such an incremental change

• the hardware appears identical in all significant ways, even the same CPU fan part number

• the only changes I've noticed so far are:

  • the new finger pull tab on the side of the internal air baffle to make removal and re-install easier
  • a new serial # sticker arrangement on the rear
  • a new MAC address vendor ID/range
  • new number on CPU heat sink
• the most significant change in function is likely SR-IOV, unlikely to affect home lab folks, but some folks putting these into production may care, discussed at some length here:
  • Intel Xeon D-1540 gets 5% speed bump as D-1541 with SR-IOV in a Supermicro SuperServer Feb. 2016, comparison with Core i7 6700K (Skylake), should I wait?

I will have more information to come, including SR-IOV tests using:

• VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1b
• Hyper-V / Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4

I also plan to have a look at the thermal characteristics inside the PC when it's booted at factory default settings, see also:

• First Look at the FLIR ONE Thermal Imaging camera for smartphones and tablets

What I have for you today is some barely edited lab footage of my first looks at the new system powering up for the first time, just hours after the FedEx box arrived right after a decent snowstorm. In this video, I capture all differences in my systems 1.0b BIOS, versus the new system's 1.0c BIOS, along with taking a brief look at CPU-Z and ATTO on Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4.

Video

Note that over the past few weeks, my brief tests of the boot-from-NVMe have gone quite well using Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 4, SuSE 12, and Red Hat 7.2. Therefore, I won't be doing extensive re-testing, since those results are likely to be functionally identical anyway.

My own use-case in my home lab is full time VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1a virtualization, so I admittedly only briefly tinker with things like Intel RSTe RAID, which has never been compatible with VMware anyway.

I hope to have more information on the 12 and 16 core versions coming up soon. Of course, those may turn out to put the price way above what many folks can justify. We'll have to wait and see.

The current Xeon D-1540/1541 CPUs share the same 45 watt rating. While the exact ship dates are not yet known, soon we should have a 12 core variant that may be called Xeon D-1557 or Xeon D-1567. It should works in this same exact system, since the motherboard is the same size, and the same 45 watts, explained here:

• My 8 core Intel Xeon D-1541 arrives by mid February, no ETA on 12 and 16 core models

The 16 core model will likely be called the Xeon D-1577, and will have a 65 watt rating, and still shares the same Mini-ITX 6.7" x 6.7" form-factor.

Feb 07 2016 Update 11:08 PM

I just noticed a slightlyl different part on the motherboard. Sandwiched in between the CPU heat sink, and the VRM fins behind it. Notice the visible legs on the black part to the left of the Xeon D-1540 heat sink at the left of the image at the top of this article, with no such leg seen next to the Xeon D-1541 pictured at right.

Addition details on the CPUs:

• The Xeon D-1540 heat sink is labeled SNK-C0057A4L 10110215
• The Xeon D-1541 heat sink is labeled SNK-C0057A4L 10113415
• The delta between the two is 3,200.

Because of the limited time I have with this loaner system, a mere 5% boost in benchmarks is barely statistically significant, and my time will be more focused on things like testing SR-IOV, RST, and VSAN testing. To prepare, my home lab is now equipped with my 2nd Samsung SSD 950 PRO M.2 NVMe drive, to make for some very interesting testing possibilities. Stay tuned!

See also at TinkerTry

If you wait until the week of Monday February 22nd to place your order from Wiredzone, you are likely to receive your system with the new Xeon D-1541 on board, and there's 30 days to request a return. Here's all the ordering details:

• Order a TinkerTry'd Supermicro SuperServer Bundle - powerful and efficient home virtualization lab solutions

• Supermicro Superserver 5028D-TN4T UEFI BIOS 1.0.b and IPMI 02.14 released - adds boot from M.2 or NVMe support

• Superguide: SuperServer home virtualization lab storage tiers, platinum through bronze, how many efficient drives fit inside this tiny chassis?

• Recommended BIOS Settings for Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T

• Benchmark Optimized BIOS Settings for Supermicro SuperServer SYS-5028D-TN4T

See also

• The Broadwell-DE Intel Xeon D-1500 series and SR-IOV
  Nov 10 2015 by Patrick Kennedy at STH

Social

@Supermicro_SMCI @Wiredzone New video of Windows Server 2016 on NVMe on Xeon D-1540 https://t.co/bzxoO0py6b and 1541 https://t.co/gSQAWY6uA9

— Paul Braren (@paulbraren) February 6, 2016