Not all motherboards are created equal. Compared to consumer hardware, prosumer level options with workstations opt for different peripheral features, but ultimately it comes down to support. The Supermicro X11SPA-T is a single socket workstation motherboard with a range of high-end features, designed to support both Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs and Xeon-W 3200 series CPUs, but its focus is with the workstation hardware on the C621 chipset. With support for up to 2 TB of DDR4-2933 memory (Xeon W) or 3 TB (Xeon Scalable) across twelve slots, a dedicated ASPEED BMC controller offering IPMI functionality, and seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots, the Supermicro X11SPA-T looks like one of the premium high-end options for users looking to build a Xeon W-3200 based workstation.

The Supermicro X11SPA-T Overview

Earlier on in the year, Intel dropped its new Xeon W-3200 Cascade Lake based processors which range from its base 8-core Xeon W-3223 model, right up to its Xeon W-3275 with 28 cores and 56 threads, each supporting 1 TB of memory. There is also the W-3275 which supports 2 TB. The primary use for the Intel Xeon-W range is workstations, and Cascade Lake enables certain internal fixes for the Spectre and Meltdown security flaws outlined over the last year. Some of the benefits of the LGA3647 socket Xeon W-3200 processors include six memory channels, support for AVX-512, and 64 PCI lanes on-chip, which allows for four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots to be used.

Supermicro uses its own product naming scheme which it publishes on its website to help users distinguish differences between models. Deciphering the Supermicro X11SPA-T reveals that it's designed for 11th gen (as defined by Supermicro) Xeon Scalable processors, that it's a single socket LGA3647 Purley model, it's on a workstation platform, and that it has 10 gigabit Ethernet. 

One board designed to use all of what the Intel Xeon W-3200 family has to offer is the Supermicro X11SPA-T, with a high-end feature set across its large E-ATX PCB. Not every user requires a dual-socket solution, and on paper, the X11SPA-T looks to tick a lot of boxes for users looking for the foundation to a single socket workstation. Not only does it feel it has solid presence, but a full set of DRAM slots, a full array of seven reinforced PCIe slots, four M.2 slots with heatsinks, and as the name suggests, 10 gigabit Ethernet.

As this is a workstation board, it has an ASPEED AST2500 IPMI chip for external control, which is also combined with an onboard D-Sub output, and an integrated Realtek RTL8211E PHY which allows users to access the IPMI via a network when the system has power but isn't switched on. Design-wise, it's the quintessential Supermicro workstation board with a core black theme across the PCB, and heatsinks, which cover the vital areas which need cooling. The twelve memory slots support up to 1 TB or 2 TB depending on the Xeon W-3200 series processor used, meaning 8 x 64 GB + 4 x 128 GB for 1 TB, and 8 x 128 GB + 4 x 256 GB for 2 TB. 

For the PCIe lanes, one of the most dominating aspects to the Supermicro X11SPA-T is the seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots towards the bottom left-hand corner. They operate at x16/x0/x16/x0/x16/x0/x16, or x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8 depending on how PCIe devices are installed. Three of the full-length slots share bandwidth with three of the PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, so there is some muxing involved. There are four PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, each featuring its own heatsink. Users looking to use these in RAID with Intel (and other approved) drives can do so, as Supermicro includes a VROC RAID key within its software bundle for RAID 0 and 1 support. For SATA drives and devices, there are eight SATA ports which support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. 

Looking at the networking on the Supermicro X11SPA-T, there are three Ethernet controllers; one Aquantia AQC107 10 G, one Intel I210-AT Gigabit, and a Realtek RTL8211E PHY dedicated to the boards integrated BMC/IPMI chip. Also on the rear panel is four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports, with a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, and one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C port. Users can expand on this with a single USB 3.1 G1 headers allowing for two extra Type-A ports, and a single USB 2.0 header which also supports two additional ports. The boards five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF are controlled by a Realtek ALC888 HD audio codec. 

Overall this board feels substantial. There's nothing fancy like an onboard RAID controller, but for almost everyone who wants to throw the kitchen sink at an Intel workstation system, on paper at least, Supermicro has a very substantial product for the market.

Performance in ~200 Words - Read the Full Review for a Complete Analysis

Comparing performance to previous Intel X299 HEDT motherboards and Intel C246 based models, everything seems on par with what's expected. We were given the W-3235 to test with, which is a 12-core processor, while our comparison reviews used the consumer 10-core. The extra cores of our Intel Xeon W-3235 do perform better in some of our CPU focused tests, but does fall in-line with other models tested in memory heavy tests such as in Blender, and WinRAR. Unsurprisingly in our system tests, power draw is naturally higher than other models previously tested due to the higher core count, and in our non-UEFI POST time test, booting times are much higher than with conventional consumer-focused models due to the added features.

The Supermicro X11SPA-T has a current retail price of $650 at Newegg, and as a result, doesn't have much competition. It's a premium workstation focused model that currently supports all of Intel's Xeon W-3200 product stack, with a lot of headroom for various configurations. If you can find a processor to pair it with, the seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots are perfect for virtualization tasks, and lots of PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 and eight SATA ports add plenty of storage capability. Supermicro has seemingly gone all out with its X11SPA-T, but it's time to see how it compares to other Intel HEDT we have tested, including the Supermicro X11SRA motherboard which we tested with the previous generation Intel Xeon W-2155 10-core 20-thread processor.

Read on for more extended analysis.

Visual Inspection

The Supermicro X11SPA-T is an E-ATX motherboard designed for workstations and is compatible with Intel's Xeon Scalable and Xeon W-3200 series processors. Deviating slightly from the design of conventional prosumer models, the X11SPA-T has a black PCB, with black heatsinks, and black and blue memory slots. The large single LGA3647 socket and twelve memory slots dominate the majority of the top side, while the seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots dominate the lower portion.

With its large E-ATX frame, there's a lot of key controllers which provides both servers, and workstation functionality for users. There are twelve memory slots which are separated into two banks, which are located on either side of the large LGA3647 socket. The twelve slots support up to DDR4-2933 ECC RDIMM and LRDIMM memory with capacities of up to 2 TB, and there's also support for Intel's DCPMM with processors that provide support.

In the bottom left-hand corner is seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate in two main configurations; x16/x0/x16/x0/x16/x0/x16 or x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8. Each full-length slot is reinforced with metal armor.

For storage, the Supermicro X11SPA-T has four PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots with each supplied with its own integrated heatsink. Each slot is vertically placed on the board with one located to the right of the full-length PCIe slots, two further over to the right of the chipset heatsink, and one located above these next to the memory slots. Each slot can accommodate M.2 2242/2260/2280, and 22110 drives. The X11SPA-T M.2 slots do support Intel VROC with RAID 0, and 1 support, but a VROC key is required. Also present are eight SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.

A total of ten 4-pin headers are present with two dedicated for a CPU fan, and eight for chassis fans. The 4-pin headers are all located in the top half of the board with four to the left-hand side of the memory slots, three along the top, and three on the right-hand side below the 24-pin ATX motherboard power input. The power delivery is a simple 6-phase array, with a small, but ample black aluminium finned heatsink.

The Supermicro X11SPA-T is using one of the most popular BMC controllers via the ASPEED AST2500. The ASPEED 2500 provides graphics via its BMC functionality and offers GUI access from a D-sub video output located on the rear panel. Assisting the ASPEED 2500 is a Realtek RTL8211E Ethernet controller which is dedicated to the IPMI and offers users remote access to the X11SPA-T.

On the rear panel is three RJ45 networking ports, each driven by its own individual Ethernet controller. These consist of an Aquantia AQC107 10 G, an Intel I120-AT Gigabit, and a Realtek RTL8211E PHY for the IPMI. In terms of USB connectors. there are four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, and one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C port. A Realtek ALC888 HD audio codec powers five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, with a COM1, and VGA port which links up to the ASPEED 2500 BMC controller.

What's in The Box

Included in the accessories bundle are six SATA cables, an IO shield, a CPU to GPU power adapter, and a quick reference quick start guide. It should be noted that this is the retail package bundle, where the bulk list comes with just two SATA cables.

BIOS

The Supermicro X11SPA-T is using a basic version of its UEFI BIOS, which is designed with function in mind and not aesthetics. The firmware GUI consists of a white background with black text, and blue highlights. Due to the firmware's archaic design, there is no screenshot capture hotkey. Instead, to pull images of the firmware, we had to connect to the system via the ASPEED AST2500 BMC controller and screenshot the screen from Java's SQL Viewer. 

We updated the Supermicro X11SPA-T to the latest firmware, BIOS version 3.2, and to flash it we used the DOS command structure via the built-in EFI shell. Users can update the firmware through connection to the BMC as an alternative to DOS.

As with older style motherboard firmware, all of the menus are located along the top with primary menus including the main screen (as above), an advanced section, event logs, IPMI settings, security, boot, and the usual save & exit settings. The Supermicro X11SPA-T does not support overclocking of any kind, not even memory tuning which is common for a prosumer workstation focused model such as this one.

Under the advanced tab, users can customize multiple aspects of the system with the boot feature menu allowing users to enable or disable Windows 7 USB installation support. Other options include CPU power settings including the enabling and disabling of Multithreading, how many CPU cores are enabled, and settings such as Virtualization technology for running virtual machines. Users can also alter the configuration of the PCIe 3.0 slots with MMIO settings also present.

One of the key functions of the Supermicro X11SPA-T is that it allows users to connect remotely to the system via the Realtek8211E PHY on the rear panel. Within the firmware, users can view the status of the network including the IP address which is required to log in remotely from another system. 

The Supermicro X11SPA-T motherboard is designed for professional use and omits the fancy GUI of desktop-based models. All of the core features from a workstation-based model are present including OS support, remote connectivity, and Supermicro does it without much fanfare. It's a conventional BIOS for a conventional workstation platform such as C621.

Software

Any form of software and driver installation media is excluded from the accessories bundle, but users can download a full disc image directly from the official product page on the Supermicro website. Aside from the drivers for key functions for the ASPEED BMC controller, audio drivers, and core Intel drivers, the only utility available is Supermicro's SuperDoctor 5 software.

The SuperDoctor 5 utility allows users to monitor hardware and integrated sensors remotely, as well within the system. It offers plenty of network management options including alerts, allows users to perform system resets and shutdowns, including firmware updates. This offers an alternative to the remote functionality of the BMC and offers a more friendly GUI. Similar to a 'Command Center' from other manufacturers, it allows real-time view of storage health, fan speed, temperatures etc.

Another alternative to connecting to the system via the static IP address. This provides a similar function to SuperDoctor 5, including monitoring, setting alerts, and checking system information. Users can also perform system maintenance and view the system in real-time through Java including the firmware. Other settings that can be customized include the date and time, IP Access Control, configuring the fans settings, as well as allowing users to upload SSL certificates.

Board Features

The Supermicro X11SPA-T is an E-ATX sized model which is designed to be used with Intel's Xeon W-3200 and the Xeon Scalable processor family. Based on Intel's C621 chipset, it comes with a variety of core features including seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with four operating at x16, and another three at x8. On the storage front is four PCIe 3.0 x4 slots which include support for VROC, and eight SATA ports which allow users to build RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Going for a more conventional route in the networking department, the Supermicro X11SPA-T has three Ethernet ports that are controlled by individual controllers. An Aquantia AQC107 10 G Ethernet controller spearheads this, with a secondary Intel I210-AT Gigabit controller, and a Realtek RTL8211E PHY controller which is dedicated to the boards IPMI. There are twelve memory slots that support both LRDIMM and RDIMM ECC DDR4 memory; this particular platform supports hex-channel memory.

Supermicro X11SPA-T EATX Motherboard
Warranty Period	3 Years
Product Page	Link
Price	$650
Size	EATX
CPU Interface	LGA3647
Chipset	Intel C621
Memory Slots (DDR4)	Twelve DDR4 Supporting 3TB 3DS ECC LRDIMM/RDIMM Hex Channel Up to DDR4-2933
Video Outputs	1 x D-Sub (IPMI)
Network Connectivity	Intel I210-AT Gigabit Aquantia AQC107 10 Gigabit Realtek RTL8211E PHY (IPMI)
Onboard Audio	Realtek ALC888
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU)	7 x PCIe 3.0 x16 - x16/x0/x16/x0/x16/x0/x16) - x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH)	N/A
Onboard SATA	Eight, RAID 0/1/5/10
Onboard M.2	4 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA
Onboard U.2	N/A
USB 3.1 (10 Gbps)	1 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel
USB 3.0 (5 Gbps)	4 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Header (two ports)
USB 2.0	1 x Header (two ports)
Power Connectors	1 x 24-pin ATX 2 x 8pin CPU
Fan Headers	2 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x Water Cooler power connector (4-pin 8 x System (4-pin)
IO Panel	1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A 3 x Network RJ45 (Intel, Aquantia, Realtek) 1 x D-Sub (IPMI) 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Output (Realtek) 1 x Serial Port

As expected with a premium model on a high-end professional chipset, the single socketed Supermicro X11SPA-T has plenty of cooling options with a total of ten 4-pin headers. To assist the boards ASPEED AST2500 IPMI management controller, the rear panel includes a D-sub video output. Also on the rear panel is a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 G2 Type-C, and four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports. The five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are powered by a Realtek ALC888 HD audio codec, which isn't high-end by any measure, but it's more than the norm for a board aimed at professional use case scenarios.

Test Bed

As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

To utilize the C246 chipset and for the Supermicro X11SCA-W review specifically, we used an Intel Xeon E-2186G processor which has similar specifications to the Core i7-8700K; the Xeon E-2186 has a 100 MHz increase on the base frequency, while the turbo clocks remain the same across both processors (4.7 GHz).

Test Setup
Processor	Intel Xeon W-3235 180W, $1398, 12 Cores, 24 Threads, 3.3 GHz (4.4 GHz Turbo)
Motherboard	Supermicro X11SCA-W
Cooling	Noctua U14S DX-3647
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU
Memory	2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2400 Ran at DDR4-2666
Video Card	ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost)
Hard Drive	Crucial MX300 1TB
Case	Open Test Bed
Operating System	Windows 10 RS3 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

Many thanks to...

We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.

Hardware Providers
Sapphire RX 460 Nitro	MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC	Crucial MX300 + MX500 SSDs	Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs
G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX	Crucial Ballistix DDR4	Silverstone Coolers	Silverstone Fans

System Performance

Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, but also the ability for the manufacturer to optimize USB speed, audio quality (based on audio codec), POST time and latency. This can come down to manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.

Power Consumption

Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single ASUS GTX 980 GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the Thermaltake 1200W power supply. This power supply has ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.

While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.

There is some variance in our power consumption figures of the Supermicro X11SPA-T motherboard as we are using a 12-core Intel Xeon W-3235 chip which has a rated TDP of 180 W. This didn't make much difference in idle and long idle power states, however, it became more apparent at full load with a maximum power draw from the wall of 255 W. 

 

Non-UEFI POST Time

Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.)

As our charts suggest, professional focused models such as the Supermicro X11SPA-T have a much slower POST time than desktop models. This is due to the chipset, controller count, and the type of controllers used including three Ethernet controllers. We achieved a POST time at default settings of 87 seconds, although after disabling as many controllers as the firmware would also us, we managed 69.5 seconds.

DPC Latency

Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.

If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.

None of the boards we have tested so far has been optimized for DPC latency out of the box, and the Supermicro X11SPA-T achieved a DPC latency of 295 microseconds. This is still under our 300 microsecond recommendation, but barely.

CPU Performance, Short Form

For our motherboard reviews, we use our short form testing method. These tests usually focus on if a motherboard is using MultiCore Turbo (the feature used to have maximum turbo on at all times, giving a frequency advantage), or if there are slight gains to be had from tweaking the firmware. We put the memory settings at the CPU manufacturers suggested frequency, making it very easy to see which motherboards have MCT enabled by default.

*Note, the W-3235 we were supplied to test the system with is a 12-core chip, while the other CPUs tested against in previous X299 reviews used a 10-core CPU. So some results are obvious, this is more a tick box to check that there's nothing out of the ordinary.

Rendering - Blender 2.78: link

For a render that has been around for what seems like ages, Blender is still a highly popular tool. We managed to wrap up a standard workload into the February 5 nightly build of Blender and measure the time it takes to render the first frame of the scene. Being one of the bigger open source tools out there, it means both AMD and Intel work actively to help improve the codebase, for better or for worse on their own/each other's microarchitecture.

Rendering – POV-Ray 3.7: link

The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, or POV-Ray, is a freeware package for as the name suggests, ray tracing. It is a pure renderer, rather than modeling software, but the latest beta version contains a handy benchmark for stressing all processing threads on a platform. We have been using this test in motherboard reviews to test memory stability at various CPU speeds to good effect – if it passes the test, the IMC in the CPU is stable for a given CPU speed. As a CPU test, it runs for approximately 1-2 minutes on high-end platforms.

Compression – WinRAR 5.4: link

Our WinRAR test from 2013 is updated to the latest version of WinRAR at the start of 2014. We compress a set of 2867 files across 320 folders totaling 1.52 GB in size – 95% of these files are small typical website files, and the rest (90% of the size) are small 30-second 720p videos.

Synthetic – 7-Zip 9.2: link

As an open source compression tool, 7-Zip is a popular tool for making sets of files easier to handle and transfer. The software offers up its own benchmark, to which we report the result.

Point Calculations – 3D Movement Algorithm Test: link

3DPM is a self-penned benchmark, taking basic 3D movement algorithms used in Brownian Motion simulations and testing them for speed. High floating point performance, MHz, and IPC win in the single thread version, whereas the multithread version has to handle the threads and loves more cores. For a brief explanation of the platform agnostic coding behind this benchmark, see my forum post here.

Neuron Simulation - DigiCortex v1.20: link

The newest benchmark in our suite is DigiCortex, a simulation of biologically plausible neural network circuits, and simulates activity of neurons and synapses. DigiCortex relies heavily on a mix of DRAM speed and computational throughput, indicating that systems which apply memory profiles properly should benefit and those that play fast and loose with overclocking settings might get some extra speed up. Results are taken during the steady-state period in a 32k neuron simulation and represented as a function of the ability to simulate in real time (1.000x equals real-time).

Gaming Performance

AoTS Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity is a Real-Time Strategy game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The original AoTS was released back in March of 2016 while the standalone expansion pack, Escalation, was released in November of 2016 adding more structures, maps, and units. We use this specific benchmark as it relies on both a good GPU as well as on the CPU in order to get the most frames per second. This balance is able to better display any systematic differences in gaming as opposed to a more GPU heavy title where the CPU and system don't matter quite as much. We use the default "Crazy" in-game settings using the DX11 rendering path in both 1080p and 4K UHD resolutions. The benchmark is run four times and the results averaged then plugged into the graph.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.

One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.

Supermicro X11SPA-T Conclusion

The Supermicro X11SPA-T is an impressive E-ATX form factor motherboard for Intel's Xeon W workstation-based CPUs. It is designed for professional use including workstations and servers. Although not a server board, there is a typical array of server functionality provided.

Visually the Supermicro X11SPA-T has a unified aesthetic through a black PCB and is easy on the eye, and most use cases for this model should be within a high-end chassis with proper cooling or even a server blade which supports E-ATX models. The X11SPA-T offers users plenty of different configurations with its seven full-length PCIe 3.0 slots, with four x16, and three x8 slots. One benefit of so many full-length slots is graphics card support with one option available is to use it as a powerful virtual machine with multiple graphics cards.

Another benefit of the number of full-length PCIe 3.0 slots is to use the bandwidth of the slots for dedicated RAID controllers and create a large bank of storage drives in either RAID 0, 1, 5, or 10 arrays. Add in support for up to 3 TB of ECC DDR4-2933 memory and depending on processor support, or Intel's DCPMM modules with the higher-end Xeon SKU's including the Gold and Platinum series, and the possibilities are endless. With twelve memory slots and support for both LRDIMM and RDIMM DDR4 memory in hex-channel mode, the Supermicro X11SPA-T provides a solid foundation for taking advantage of what C621 has to offer.

With an ASPEED 2500 BMC controller and assisted by a Realtek RTL8211E PHY on the rear panel, remote access to our test machine worked flawlessly. This includes with Supermicro's SD5 software, and through the IP accessed control panel which included Java support for real-time monitoring. Other features include an Aquantia AQC107 10 G Ethernet controller, with a second port which is powered by an Intel I210-AT Gigabit controller. The rear panel also includes two USB 3.1 G2 ports, with a single Type-A, and a single Type-C. A Realtek ALC888 takes care of the audio and even includes an S/PDIF optical output.

The Supermicro X11SPA-T has a current price tag of $620 at Amazon, which is a very fair representation given the quality of the controller set and the features on offer. It's a drop in the ocean in comparison to the consumer models such as the ROG Dominus Extreme which has an MSRP of $1800, and as expected, has a much more consumer-focused target market with many bells and whistles which aren't required for workstation use. For its price point, it puts it in line with dual-socket LGA3647 options, including the WS C621E Sage for $616.

Supermicro is one of the market leaders in workstation offerings and it's easy to see why through the X11SPA-T single-socket LGA3647 motherboard. It's on the pricey side with its current retail price of $620, and it could be improved upon, especially in the software and firmware, but for features it is quite solid. The biggest compliments to the X11SPA-T is that it works in every department it's designed for, it performs well, and it has the added advantage of looking good.