Intel S1200BT Server Board and R1304BT Server Systems Memory Setup

With the introduction of the new S1200BT series Intel Server Board and the associated 1U Intel Server Systems we have a bit of a memory configuration change with the new platform.

• Intel S1200BT Technical Product Specification v1.0 (TPS - PDF).
• Intel S1200BT Product Support Page (All support related content).

So far we have not yet seen a tested memory list from Intel on the new product’s support site.

In the S1200BT TPS we see the following on pages 17 and 18:

So, the first thing off the top is that the boards now only support Unbuffered DIMMs with a single or dual rank with only two slots per channel.

Okay then, off to Kingston’s site to see if there are any new part numbers for these boards:

• Note that the part number shown in Kingston’s list should be: R1304BTL Server System.

What we see here is what appears to be compatible memory though not in the same way that previous Kingston Intel tested memory would indicate via the “i” suffix in the part number: KVRxxxxDxExSx/4Gi.

We called into the Intel Channel Support line to find out whether there was a list that had not been posted yet. They indicated that the list is a work in progress. The support technician did send us a copy of some of the memory parts on one version of the upcoming list:

• 8GB Samsung M391B1G73AH0-CH9
• 4GB Samsung M391B5273CH0-CH9

With the partial list we received from Intel we are not able to outfit any of the new server configurations with 32GB without paying a very high price for the 8GB Samsung RAM. Any Samsung or Hynix part number is very difficult to come by for us here in Canada as of this writing.

We went on to check out Crucial’s product site to see what would come up:

Nothing seemed to come up in our site searches so we clicked on the Live Chat button. In the chat session we were pointed to the following page:

• Crucial.com: Guaranteed-compatible memory upgrades for your Intel S1200BTS Server.

Like the Kingston site we see the “Guaranteed-Compatible” statement.

The problem for us is that while both Kingston and Crucial say their products are guaranteed to work with the Intel products in question we hit a roadblock with Intel’s support team if the memory installed in the server is _not_ on the Tested Memory List. The very first thing we would be told when trying to troubleshoot a problem would be to purchase memory on the approved list.

For now we will be sitting back and waiting for a while for the new product line to mature some.

Previously, we did not wait until the Xeon 3400 Series CPUs and Intel Server Systems based on the new Intel Server Board S3420GP and subsequently the Intel Server Board S3420GPRX product lines matured. That generation of hardware had virtualization capabilities that were key to us jumping on the new products as soon as we could get them.

Also, there are no indications as of yet whether we will be seeing a new SKU for the Intel Server System SR1695GPRX which is one of the best virtualization platforms available to us from Intel at this time. So, we will be sticking with this server system for the time being.

UPDATE 2011-04-12: The list as it stands that Intel sent us is as follows:

Hopefully we will be seeing both Crucial and Kingston enter the running with 4GB and 8GB parts so that it is not so painful for us to get more than 16GB of RAM in these boxes.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer