ASUS KFSN4-DRE server/workstation board


Return to index

This is a server board using AMD hardware (Fam10h). It can also be used for building a high-powered workstation. Powered by libreboot.

Flashing instructions can be found at ../install/#flashrom

Form factor

These boards use the SSI EEB 3.61 form factor; make sure that your case supports this. This form factor is similar to E-ATX in that the size is identical, but the position of the screws are different.

Flash chips

These boards use LPC flash (not SPI), in a PLCC socket. The default flash size 1MiB (8Mbits), and can be upgraded to 2MiB (16Mbits). SST49LF080A is the default that the board uses. SST49LF016C is an example of a 2MiB (16Mbits) chip, which might work. It is believed that 2MiB (16Mbits) is the maximum size available for the flash chip.

DO NOT hot-swap the chip with your bare hands. Use a PLCC chip extractor. These can be found online. See http://www.coreboot.org/Developer_Manual/Tools#Chip_removal_tools

Native graphics initialization

Native graphics initialization exists (XGI Z9s) for this board. Framebuffer- and text-mode both work. A serial port is also available.

Memory

DDR2 533/667 Registered ECC. 16 slots. Total capacity up to 64GiB.

Hex-core CPUs

PCB revision 1.05G is the latest version of this board and the best one (the revision number is be printed on the board), if you want to use dual hex-core CPUs (Opteron 2400/8400 series), though only two board configurations are believed to support them. Other revisions are believed to only support dual quad-core CPUs.

To be sure your board supports a CPU check the official ASUS website here: https://www.asus.com/support/cpu_support. Note: not all CPUs are listed.

If you are running a Hex-Core CPU on any board version, please contact us.

Board configurations

There are 7 different configurations of this board: “standard”, 2S, iKVM, iKVM/IST, SAS, SAS/iKVM and SAS/iKVM/IST.

The 2S boards have two PCI-E slots with the numbers of lanes shared, making each slot have 8 lanes.

The iKVM boards are so called because they offer a remote real-time access to the machine through a removable PCI management card, their hardware is the same as the non-iKVM ones.

The SAS versions have a 4-port SAS controller and a four 7-pin SAS connectors instead of the PCI-E 8x slot which is present in all the other board configurations. Note: the SAS functionality is not supported by libreboot.

The IST versions with PCB revision 1.05G are the ones who are believed to support the six core Opteron Istanbul processors (2400 and 8400 series).

Current issues

Other information

specifications

Markdown file for this page: https://libreboot.at/docs/hardware/kfsn4-dre.md

This HTML page was generated by the untitled static site generator.