Whats the difference (if any) between a board labelled as SM X8SIA-F and one labelled as SM X8SIA-F-O? Seen both being referenced. Are they one and the same? Is either (assuming there's differences) suitable for virtualisation? If so, at what level? Apologies for my questions but i'm trying to educate myself ...... slowly!

 

I've been trying to figure this out as well. It looks to me like they are the same board. I contacted Supermicro regarding this but haven't received an answer back yet. Hopefully someone can confirm if they are just 2 different numbers for the same product. If not I'll post back when I get an answer from Supermicro.

I believe the "-O" is a boxed retail product and the other is a bulk product. No difference functionally.

Yes, the "-O" is the complete boxed product, including board in a cardboard-box, users-manual booklet, driver-CDROM, 2-4xS-ATA cables, floppy+IDE cable and other brackets (if applicable) *and* I/O shield.

 

The non-O version is just the board only , but normally *with* I/O-shield, in a shrinkwrap package.

However, I strongly recommend to inquire at your retailer if the I/O shield is supplied on that occasion.

Yes, that's it. Just stumbled across a description of the boxed version earlier. Thanks for the confirmation! Now then, is it a worthwhile board to go with for Unraid V6 test rig? Anyone using it? I know its not up there with todays boards but i'm looking for something of value that'll give me little grief while learning about V6.

....try a search in the forum and the net.

AFAIR the board has been used/tested in an ESXi build in the past and there were some problems with vt-d and pcipasstrough

for some slots as the board employs some kind of non-intelligent bridge between these slots and chipset/CPU.