ASRock Rack, the enterprise team from ASRock, has silently launched the EPC621D4I-2M and EPC621D6I mini-ITX LGA 3647 motherboards, the latter of which surprisingly come with six memory slots, to provide housing for Intel first- and second-generation Xeon Scalable processors that range up to 28 cores.
The EPC621D4I-2M and EPC621D6I are tiny mini-ITX motherboards that carry the massive LGA 3647 socket that takes up almost half of the old-school green PCB. Power is supplied to the motherboard through the standard 24-pin power connector and an 8-pin EPS power connector. Don't let the miniature size and 6-phase power delivery subsystem fool you as both motherboards can accommodate Intel's Skylake and Cascade Lake Xeon Scalable multi-core monsters that span up to 28 cores and 205W TDP (thermal design power).
Although the EPC621D4I-2M and EPC621D6I practically came out of the same mold, there are a few significant differences that separate the two siblings. As hinted by the model name, the EPC621D4I-2M is equipped with four DDR4 SO-DIMM memory slots on the front side of the motherboard and two M.2 slots on the backside.
On the other hand, the EPC621D6I features six DDR4 SO-DIMM memory slots in total by replacing the two rear M.2 slots with DDR4 SO-DIMM memory slots. At the moment, there aren't any hexa-channel SO-DIMM memory kits on the market, but we expect to see them soon.
The duo of motherboards employs the Intel C621 chipset and has a PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slot. Basic storage options include one SATA DOM (Disk on Module) port and one standard SFF-8643 port. An ASpeed AST2500 management processor takes care of the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) duties, while the Marvel 88E1514-MNP2 controller provides internet connectivity via the pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports. The rear panel also houses the D-Sub port for the BMC's video output and two USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports.
Both motherboards are excellent mini-ITX options and choosing one over the other really depends on if you value having more memory than storage or vice versa. In terms of compatibility, the SO-DIMM slots support standard SO-DIMM and specialized EEC (error-correcting code) SO-DIMM memory modules with speeds up to DDR4-2999. The M.2 ports conform to the PCIe 3.0 x4 standard and can shelter both PCIe and SATA M.2 2280 drives.
ASRock Rack hasn't revealed the availability or pricing for the EPC621D4I-2M and EPC621D6I motherboards.
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Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.