What the heck is this?

[destrekor]

I'm speaking of the rectangular piece in the upper left corner, between the two mounting points for the m.2 connector that is out of view in this image.

More images here for anyone interested: http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x10sdv-7tp8f-high-end-xeon-d-platform/


I've never seen that before, and I don't see any mention on the product page that draws my attention, nor is anything mentioned in that article.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/D/X10SDV-7TP4F.cfm

I'm sure there is a forum for this and that Off Topic isn't it. You may repost it in the proper forum.
admin allisolm

 

[disappoint]

M.2 PCIe slot for SSDs.

With SSD installed in that slot:

Without the SSD installed (empty slot):

Why wasn't this posted in the General Hardware or Motherboard subforums?

 

[Drako]

It's an emulation/debug header.

 

[destrekor]

M.2 PCIe slot for SSDs.

With SSD installed in that slot:

Without the SSD installed (empty slot):

Why wasn't this posted in the General Hardware or Motherboard subforums?

Nope. Look again, that's not the m.2 slot. The m.2 slot is adjacent to the CPU heat sink, right "above" the SuperDOM SATA ports.

Edit:
Oh, and I just didn't think about the sub-forums for this one. I just felt it was a general OT post that happened to be about technology.

 

[destrekor]

It's an emulation/debug header.

Is there some specific kind of name or anything for that? And are you certain that's what it is? I've never seen that before on anything, but it's on all the Flex-ATX Xeon-D boards, but on no other boards that I've seen from them. So... odd.

 

[Drako]

Is there some specific kind of name or anything for that? And are you certain that's what it is? I've never seen that before on anything, but it's on all the Flex-ATX Xeon-D boards, but on no other boards that I've seen from them. So... odd.

It's referred to as an XDP connector - see page 18 of this doc.

http://www.macraigor.com/downloads/intel_jtag_doc.pdf

It's a fairly standard thing on Intel development boards.

 

[destrekor]

It's referred to as an XDP connector - see page 18 of this doc.

http://www.macraigor.com/downloads/intel_jtag_doc.pdf

It's a fairly standard thing on Intel development boards.

Interesting. Thanks! It was just odd that Supermicro has them on all their FlexATX boards for the Xeon D-1500 platform, but not on a single mITX board. Obviously space is limited on the small boards so that could be the sole reason, and they would if they could.

I just found it so odd that it definitely looked like some kind of port but it would be covered by an m.2 SSD.

 

[Drako]

The part number for that connector is Samtec BSH-030-01-F-D-A.

I've used it on a number of Intel boards that I've worked on for JTAG and OBSD interfaces.