PSU with 24, 8 and 10 pin power connectors

Hi,

I am looking into building a dual CPU server to use as a VMWare ESXi host for a few VMs and general home lab geeking around.

I was planning using the following components :-

2 x Xeon X5680 CPUs
6 x 8GB DDR3 Registered ECC
1 x Supermicro X8DTL-3F Motherboard

Unfortunately even though the Supermicro board supports both Intel 5500 and 5600 series Xeons, it turns out that the board needs to be revision 2.01 or greater for 5600 support which I didn’t find out until after buying the board. I asked the seller to check the revision before shipping but was told that I could just return it if it didn’t work and he shipped it anyway. The board arrived this morning with a nice big “REV 1.3” label on it :frowning:

As a replacement I am considering buying a refurbished Fujitsu D2618-C14 motherboard and not wanting to make the same mistake twice, this time I have been pouring over the manual.

It looks like it supports the X5680’s (the -Cxx model) and the RAM I bought BUT it requires 3 power connectors.

The manual for the board says the following about the PSU requirements: -

D2618 is powered by a split plane PSU with six +12V-rails and 1000W continuous power. Four rails
are for systemboard and two for peripherals (e.g. HHDs, graphics card). There are three power
connectors on this motherboard as listed below.

1 x 24 PIN (Standard 24 pin ATX power)
1 x 8 PIN (8 PIN EPS type or split 4+4 PIN)
1 x 10 PIN <-- mysterious extra extra power connector?

And then specifies the PIN out for the 3 connectors.

I am pretty sure of the first two but I have no idea what the 10 pin connector is called so I am having trouble searching for a suitable PSU.

Has anyone heard of such a configuration before? Can you tell me what the 10 pin is called or give me a suggestion of what type/model PSU I should search for?

I am hoping that I can use a reasonably standard ATX style PSU rather than a proprietary server PSU with loud cooling fans.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Shecks

The 10-pin power connector is not in either the ATX specifications (section 4.2) or the EPS12V specifications (section 6).

My initial guess is that it’s at least relatively proprietary. You could potentially make an adapter from an 8-pin or 6+2 pin connector since it looks like it’s just 12V and GND circuits, but I would recommend against that if you don’t know what you’re doing/don’t have the experience.

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Thanks weeb

Yes it looks like it’s a proprietary connector. I think I have managed to find a factory Fujitsu PSU with the 10 PIN connector.

Turns out the motherboard is used in the Fujitsu Celsius Workstations so I searched for a replacement PSUs for those and found this: -

Fujitsu S26113-E550-V70-01 1000W

The PSUs probably have a longer “usable” life than the motherboards so are still in use so are still quite expensive.

I agree it’s probably not a good idea to try to make up an adapter, I don’t think I would trust my electrical handiwork and at the price the factory PSU is going for the MB is not worth it.

The search for a suitable board continues…

Shecks

I have a x8dtl-i rev 1.3, which is the same board you have but without the SAS and IPMI nic. It does work with x5600 series, however, I had to update to the latest BIOS. e5500 series to flash the board with are available for cheap, assuming that you are in the USA, an e5520 should be no more than $5 USD.

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If it is an option, you may want to opt for the Z8NA-D6. It has the 8-PIN EPS along with the 24-PIN ATX. Nothing proprietary power wise, along with 5600 series support with a somewhat early BIOS revision.

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Thanks for the info @TheCakeIsNaOH.

I never even thought that it might be something that could be solved with a BIOS update, I figured it was a later hardware revision I needed.

Great suggestion on using a cheap X5500 series CPU to boot the board for a BIOS update. I will look into that because I think I can get a suitable CPU for less than the cost of returning the Supermicro board. I have a PSU that will power the Supermicro board so if I can get the working with the X5680’s it will save me that expense too.

Thanks for your help

Shecks

Thanks for the board suggestion Dmetsys, that could very well be an option too if I end up returning the Supermicro board. I’m going to try do a BIOS update as TheCakeIsNaOH suggested and see how it goes but if I do need to return the board the ASUS board looks like a very good alternative.

Cheers,

Shecks

on that mainboard revision 1.3 supports 96 gb of ram ?
thanks

It does with some kits.

See the official page for compatibility- https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/QPI/5500/X8DTL-i.cfm