GIGABYTE Launches Three New Xeon W Server Motherboards

BY Diane Marini

GIGABYTE Launches Three New Xeon W Server Motherboards – Sep 03, 2018 – Taipei, Taiwan (Techreleased) –  GIGABYTE has launched three new server motherboards based on Intel’s  Xeon W “Basin Falls” platform: MF51-ES0, MF51-ES1 and MF51-ES2, aimed at enterprises looking for a price and performance efficient solution for cloud and web hosting.

The Intel Xeon W Basin Falls platform features up to 18 cores / 36 threads, up to 4.0GHz clock speed (or 4.5GHz with Intel Turbo Boost technology), up to 4 channels of DDR4 2666 Mhz memory support, and 48 PCIe Gen 3 lanes (+ 16 from the PCH). Described by Intel as “performance optimized for mainstream workstations”, the Xeon W is also attractive for enterprises looking for a single socket server platform that is more economical than the dual socket Xeon Scalable series while still more powerful than the entry-level Xeon E series. These three new motherboards, triggered by customer demand, are aimed at users who want to use the Xeon W in the server room rather than in a desktop workstation: they feature a server friendly board layout as well as an Aspeed AST2500 BMC for remote management via IPMI or Redfish.

The difference between these three models lies in network connectivity: the top of the range MF51-ES0 features 2 x 10Gb/s BASE-T LAN ports (Intel® X550) and 2 x GbE LAN ports (Intel® I210), the mid-range MF51-ES1 features 4 x GbE LAN ports (2 via Intel® I350 and 2 via Intel® I210), while the economical MF51-ES2 features 2 x GbE LAN ports (Intel® I210). All three motherboards feature an M.2 port (PCIe Gen3 x4), 2 x SilmSAS ports (PCIe Gen3 x4) for U.2 storage devices, and 8 x SATA III 6Gb/s ports to provide a range of storage device options, as well as an additional 3 x PCIe x16 (2 x Gen3 x16) + (1 x Gen3 x8) expansion slots.