Intel's Next-Gen SPR-WS Platform Pictured: Supermicro's X13SWA-TF

News
By Anton Shilov
published

A server, or a remotely-managed workstation?

Lenovo
(Image credit: Lenovo)

When we first saw mention of the Supermicro X13SWA-TF motherboard based on Intel’s W790 chipset set to power upcoming workstations as well as high-end desktops based on Sapphire Rapids CPUs, we barely had any details about it. Now, thanks to our colleagues from Chiphell who revealed its picture, we can tell more.

Aas mentioned, the Supermicro X13SWA-TF motherboard is based on W790, a workstation-grade chipset. So it comes in an E-ATX form factor, which is used for workstations, desktops, and tower servers. Speaking of workstations and tower servers, the platform indeed has an Aspeed remote management processor.

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Supermicro
(Image credit: Chiphell)

One of the first things that strikes the eye is an eight-phase solid-state voltage regulating module for Intel’s LGA4677 processor. To feed the beast, there are two EPS connectors. While the number of phases may not exactly impress overclockers, we are talking about an ultra-high-end product aimed mostly at workstation users who utmost value stability and longevity. For the same reason, the board features a four-phase VRM for its eight-channel memory subsystem.

Being a motherboard aimed at demanding users, the Supermicro X13SWA-TF also features four M.2-2280 slots for SSDs fed directly from the CPU. The board also brings six PCIe x16 slots, five of which are connected to the CPU and therefore support the PCIe 5.0 protocol. Meanwhile, there is no word about exact bifurcation or CXL support, though. Also, there are two U.2 connectors and a multitude of SATA connectors for bulk storage.

Since the Supermicro X13SWA-TF is aimed at a variety of applications, including desktop workstations, it also features an audio codec and appropriate 3.5-mm connectors. 

We know from an early leak that the X13SWA-TF is going to be priced in the ballpark of ultra-high-end enthusiast-grade motherboards, yet the mystery remains when exactly this one will hit the market. For those who have been waiting — considering that now both AMD and Intel have given up on so-called extreme workstations — availability might be the most important question.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Freelance News Writer

Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cyrusfox
    The long awaited return of the high-end desktop (HEDT) from Intel?
    Is it coming back to life after it was killed by all the core increases done on the consumer line(4 cores to 16 or 8+16)? Will be interesting to see how the they price these chips. History of HEDT saw high end chip prices up to $2k (7980XE release late 2017 18 cores skylake). AMD has stopped adding more cores for 3 generations now(3950,5950,7950 top at 16 cores). Also intel after Rapture lakes appears to be hitting pause on more cores as well (meteor lake rumors saying only 6+16(P=e) design, a decrease from current raptor 8+16 config). Likely a good time to reinvigorate the workstation MOAR core platforms.

    Excited to hear more about this and see competition reenter this space especially with the death of threadripper non-pro.
    Reply
  • slash3
    cyrusfox said:
    The long awaited return of the high-end desktop (HEDT) from Intel?
    Is it coming back to life after it was killed by all the core increases done on the consumer line(4 cores to 16 or 8+16)? Will be interesting to see how the they price these chips. History of HEDT saw high end chip prices up to $2k (7980XE release late 2017 18 cores skylake). AMD has stopped adding more cores for 3 generations now(3950,5950,7950 top at 16 cores). Also intel after Rapture lakes appears to be hitting pause on more cores as well (meteor lake rumors saying only 6+16(P=e) design, a decrease from current raptor 8+16 config). Likely a good time to reinvigorate the workstation MOAR core platforms.

    Excited to hear more about this and see competition reenter this space especially with the death of threadripper non-pro.

    You'll need to keep waiting - this board is aimed squarely at TR Pro. No OC, 2DPC and RDIMM support on eight memory channels, IPMI, multiple 10GbE and full 22110 M.2 accommodation.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    It's entirely possible that a proper HEDT board would still support 2DPC, but it would be 8 slots and forego support for 8 ch memory.

    It sadly makes sense that the first boards are squarely aimed at the TR Pro segment since SPR will be available before a Zen 4 TR Pro. AMD has also had availability problems in this segment with the last two releases so Intel could easily be making OEMs guarantees AMD couldn't match either way.

    The original HEDT market has also effectively not existed since the launch of TR 3000 so I'd imagine it would be very hard to measure how many consumers would care as businesses have largely been forced to move on.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    cyrusfox said:
    The long awaited return of the high-end desktop (HEDT) from Intel?
    If you're talking about non-Xeon HEDT, then I doubt it. I think there haven't been any roadmap leaks of non-Xeon processors on a socket bigger than LGA 1700.

    If you mean to include Xeons, then Intel never left. There was an Ice Lake Xeon W generation that didn't grab much attention, because Ice Lake wasn't terribly impressive, especially in the realm of single-threaded performance.

    cyrusfox said:
    AMD has stopped adding more cores for 3 generations now(3950,5950,7950 top at 16 cores).
    AMD's version of HEDT was the non-Pro ThreadRippers, which went up to 64 cores.

    cyrusfox said:
    after Rapture lakes appears

    🕴
    LOL. After Rapture Lake, the competition will be Left Behind?

    🤣
    cyrusfox said:
    Excited to hear more about this and see competition reenter this space especially with the death of threadripper non-pro.
    This article has a slide with the specs of the upcoming CPUs for this socket:

    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-roadmap-leaks-raptor-lake-refresh-hedt-replacement-in-2023
    Eh, here you go:

    As for pricing, I'd guess the W-2400 range will probably start around $700 and the W-3400 will probably top out around $7k. Could be less, depending on what AMD does with ThreadRipper.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    slash3 said:
    You'll need to keep waiting - this board is aimed squarely at TR Pro. No OC, 2DPC and RDIMM support on eight memory channels,
    Where do you see "No OC"? Is that based on the VRM comments? And where does it say about RDIMM support?
    Reply
  • brandonjclark
    I have a hardon for SuperMicro boards, admittedly. None of the flash, all of the manliness you could want.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    bit_user said:
    Huh? It has 8 DIMM slots. Either it's for the W-2400 series, which have only 4 memory channels and therefore it must support 2 DIMMs per channel, or it's aimed at the W-3400 series, which goes up to 56-cores w/ 8-channel memory and is exactly aimed at TR Pro.

    My guess is that it's a quad-channel board, based on the comments about the VRM. The W-2400 line has a base power of 225 W, whereas the W-3400 line has a base power of 350 W. You'd think a 350 W workstation board would have a beefier VRM.
    The board posted here definitely has 16 memory slots and the spec sheet says 8ch before it talks about the lower spec using 8 slots and 4ch.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    thestryker said:
    The board posted here definitely has 16 memory slots
    Oops, I was probably counting slot pairs and forgot to divide by 2.

    thestryker said:
    and the spec sheet says 8ch before it talks about the lower spec using 8 slots and 4ch.
    What spec sheet? Since these were leaked photos, I figured there wouldn't be specs on it, yet.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    brandonjclark said:
    I have a hardon for SuperMicro boards, admittedly. None of the flash, all of the manliness you could want.
    I was recently browsing W680 boards and reassured to see Supermicro's X13SAE is good old PCB green.

    https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X13SAE
    I'm not too sure about about "manliness", though. I do buy into some of the hype from brands like Asus, but my current Supermicro board has been virtually trouble-free.

    That said, when I checked the customer reviews of that board a couple years later, it seems they had quality problems because there was a flurry of reviews citing serious problems. That was a while ago, so hopefully it's been sorted out. I'm almost definitely using them for my next motherboard.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    bit_user said:
    What spec sheet? Since these were leaked photos, I figured there wouldn't be specs on it, yet.
    I missed it the first time through as well, but both images are together here just hit the right arrow on the motherboard image.
    Reply