Supermicro X9DRL-EF Motherboard

Memory Support

Intel socket LGA2011 CPUs have an embedded memory controller, meaning that it is the processor, not the chipset, that defines what memory technologies you can have and the maximum amount of memory that is possible. The motherboard, however, may have a limitation as to how much memory can be installed.

The integrated memory controller from socket LGA2011 processors supports DDR3 memories up to 1,600 MHz.

The Supermicro X9DRL-EF has four memory sockets for each CPU, for a total of eight memory sockets. Since LGA2011 CPUs support the quad-channel memory architecture, you must populate all memory sockets in order to achieve the best performance possible. Because of that, there is no point in having sockets with different colors, since all memory sockets must be used.

The maximum memory capacity will depend on the kind of memory modules you use. If you use regular memory modules, each socket supports modules of up to 8 GiB, for a total of 64 GiB. If, however, you use registered memory modules, the supported capacity is increased to 32 GiB per socket, for a total of 256 GiB.

Figure 3: Four of the eight memory sockets; populate them all for the best performance

Figure 4: The other four memory sockets; populate them all for the best performance