That socket at the bottom apparently adds RAID capability:

Adaptec Raptor RAID Controller (P4DC6+ only) […]
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Adaptec Raptor RAID Controller (P4DC6+ only)

The P4DC6+ includes a Raptor RAID controller to offer the high degree of
fault tolerance required by today's servers. A SO-DIMM socket is included
on the motherboard to plug a Raptor adapter card (not included) into, which
eliminates the need to use up a PCI slot to have RAID capability. The Raptor
RAID controller and adaptor utilizes a 64-bit bus, provides 0, 1, 0/1, 5, and
0/5 RAID levels and supports S.M.A.R.T. and SES/SAF-TE

Errius wrote on 2023-06-04, 13:17:

That socket at the bottom apparently adds RAID capability:

Adaptec Raptor RAID Controller (P4DC6+ only) […]
Show full quote

Adaptec Raptor RAID Controller (P4DC6+ only)

The P4DC6+ includes a Raptor RAID controller to offer the high degree of
fault tolerance required by today's servers. A SO-DIMM socket is included
on the motherboard to plug a Raptor adapter card (not included) into, which
eliminates the need to use up a PCI slot to have RAID capability. The Raptor
RAID controller and adaptor utilizes a 64-bit bus, provides 0, 1, 0/1, 5, and
0/5 RAID levels and supports S.M.A.R.T. and SES/SAF-TE

This is indeed a really cool feature, but for the life of me, I can't seem to find one of these RAPTOR cards!!!!

Does anyone by any chance know what its part number is?

I'd like to see a picture of it. Unfortunately searches are muddied by confusion with the WD Raptor hard drive.

Errius wrote on 2023-06-04, 14:33:

I'd like to see a picture of it. Unfortunately searches are muddied by confusion with the WD Raptor hard drive.

Here you go:

Aha, thanks.

Does anyone know whether I'd be able to fit a pair of SL79V's into this motherboard?

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-04, 19:31:

Does anyone know whether I'd be able to fit a pair of SL79V's into this motherboard? […]
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Does anyone know whether I'd be able to fit a pair of SL79V's into this motherboard?

SM reckon you'd need P4DC6+II (maybe that's why they slapped heatsinks on the VRMs) https://www.supermicro.com/support/faqs/faq.cfm?faq=404

The Adaptec ZCR card you need is the U160 version - the ASR-2005S (I have the Raptor II / U320 ASR-2015S on my Abit WI-2P...fyi, they can run quite hot)

Apparently, the only difference between the P4DC6+ and P4DC6+II is the heat sink on the VRM. (According to the manual)

So could I not solve this problem by placing a custom heat sink on the VRM?

If worst comes to worst, I’ll fit two 2.8GHz XEONS with 2MB of level 3 cache, as the board is validated to run CPU’s @ 2.8GHz according to the manual.

Thanks very much for the info on the RAID add on card, I really appreciate it!

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-05, 06:53:

Apparently, the only difference between the P4DC6+ and P4DC6+II is the heat sink on the VRM. (According to the manual) […]
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Apparently, the only difference between the P4DC6+ and P4DC6+II is the heat sink on the VRM. (According to the manual)

So could I not solve this problem by placing a custom heat sink on the VRM?

If worst comes to worst, I’ll fit two 2.8GHz XEONS with 2MB of level 3 cache, as the board is validated to run CPU’s @ 2.8GHz according to the manual.

Thanks very much for the info on the RAID add on card, I really appreciate it!

My thoughts too...trouble is its difficult to know if they uprated the VRMs at the same time unless someone has the +II and could pull the sinks and check

For now, what I’ll do is fit a heat sink to the VRM and slot a pair of 2.8GHz 2MB CPU’s and see how it goes. (Measure the temperature of the VRM in that configuration and then decide from there.)

If I wanted to beef up the VRM, could I do so by swapping out the FET’s for more beefy ones?

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-05, 07:38:

For now, what I’ll do is fit a heat sink to the VRM and slot a pair of 2.8GHz 2MB CPU’s and see how it goes. (Measure the temperature of the VRM in that configuration and then decide from there.)

If I wanted to beef up the VRM, could I do so by swapping out the FET’s for more beefy ones?

Another cryptic 'no you can't' from SM https://www.supermicro.com/support/faqs/faq.cfm?faq=939

Thanks very much for all your help!

A pair of 2.8GHz 2MB CPU’s it will be!

One of the best things about S603/604 is everything is so cheap. You could always get a pair of 3Ghz's and give it a go.
Although been from the cap plague era maybe wise not to stress the poor old thing much.

On another note my wife hates you. Sadly my Dell S604 is heading to scrap as the caps are finally gone and I'm downsizing for the move to Oz.
May just need to add one of these to my wish list once I arrive as it's a nice platform for NT4 and also want a RD Ram system (which the Dell didn't do)

chinny22 wrote on 2023-06-05, 10:52:

One of the best things about S603/604 is everything is so cheap. You could always get a pair of 3Ghz's and give it a go. Althoug […]
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One of the best things about S603/604 is everything is so cheap. You could always get a pair of 3Ghz's and give it a go.
Although been from the cap plague era maybe wise not to stress the poor old thing much.

On another note my wife hates you. Sadly my Dell S604 is heading to scrap as the caps are finally gone and I'm downsizing for the move to Oz.
May just need to add one of these to my wish list once I arrive as it's a nice platform for NT4 and also want a RD Ram system (which the Dell didn't do)

I'll err on the side of caution and install dual 2.8GHz CPU's as Super Micro themselves advised not to slot the 3GHz chips into this board! (A bit of a bummer, but it's how it has to be!)

The biggest bummer is the reduction in size of the level 3 cache form 4MB on the 3GHz chip to only 2MB on the 2.8GHz chip! This is a rather big deal, as I would imagine that cache misses on the NetBurst Microarchitecture would be rather costly due to the length of its execution pipeline!!!

How have I offended your wife?

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-06, 17:41:

I'll err on the side of caution and install dual 2.8GHz CPU's as Super Micro themselves advised not to slot the 3GHz chips into this board! (A bit of a bummer, but it's how it has to be!)

The biggest bummer is the reduction in size of the level 3 cache form 4MB on the 3GHz chip to only 2MB on the 2.8GHz chip! This is a rather big deal, as I would imagine that cache misses on the NetBurst Microarchitecture would be rather costly due to the length of its execution pipeline!!!

How have I offended your wife?

Understandable, tho you do continue to wonder just how redesigned the +II really is...a side -by-side check of the boards online shows no discernible difference save the chunky heatsink on the VRMs (did they actually redesign / uprate the VRM circuitry or just add a couple of push pin thu-holes to secure the heatsink?)

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-06-07, 02:43:

Understandable, tho you do continue to wonder just how redesigned the +II really is...a side -by-side check of the boards online shows no discernible difference save the chunky heatsink on the VRMs (did they actually redesign / uprate the VRM circuitry or just add a couple of push pin thu-holes to secure the heatsink?)

P4DC6plusII.jpg

I have noticed that the inductors on the +II appear to have more windings! So there must be a difference!

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-06, 17:41:

I'll err on the side of caution and install dual 2.8GHz CPU's as Super Micro themselves advised not to slot the 3GHz chips into this board! (A bit of a bummer, but it's how it has to be!)

The biggest bummer is the reduction in size of the level 3 cache form 4MB on the 3GHz chip to only 2MB on the 2.8GHz chip! This is a rather big deal, as I would imagine that cache misses on the NetBurst Microarchitecture would be rather costly due to the length of its execution pipeline!!!

How have I offended your wife?

She thought I was finally downsizing my fleet, and now here you are giving my ideas to build new PC's. Don't worry she wont hunt you down though 😜

chinny22 wrote on 2023-06-07, 12:53:

Irinikus wrote on 2023-06-06, 17:41:

I'll err on the side of caution and install dual 2.8GHz CPU's as Super Micro themselves advised not to slot the 3GHz chips into this board! (A bit of a bummer, but it's how it has to be!)

The biggest bummer is the reduction in size of the level 3 cache form 4MB on the 3GHz chip to only 2MB on the 2.8GHz chip! This is a rather big deal, as I would imagine that cache misses on the NetBurst Microarchitecture would be rather costly due to the length of its execution pipeline!!!

How have I offended your wife?

She thought I was finally downsizing my fleet, and now here you are giving my ideas to build new PC's. Don't worry she wont hunt you down though 😜

In that case I happily take full responsibility! 😀

I may end up going with ATI on this one, but I first need to receive the motherboard and confirm that it works!

This would be a journey, as I've pretty much always stuck to Nvidia!

Slotting one of these little cards upgrades the onboard SCSI to SCSI RAID: (A huge thanks to @PC Hoarder Patrol for sharing the details pertaining to this add-on card! 😀 )

A super cool option!!!