Article: SOtM Launches sMB-Q370 Motherboard

[MayfromSOtM]

On 11/5/2022 at 5:51 PM, Luvdac said:

Done! With jcat usb and ethernet xe cards and a jcat pico nano before the usb card. Powered by an hdplex 500w atx lpsu. The jcat usb card connects to an external hdd powered by an ifi 12v 4A power elite psu with custom pure silver dc cable, as well as to a gustard u18 with a custom pure silver usb cable. The u18 feeds a gustard x26 pro. The hdplex harness is soon to be replaced with hand drawn 99.99% solid core silver cabling.

Initial impressions are very good with windows 10 and roon. A definite step up from a similar arrangement, ( same usb and ethernet cards from jcat, same silver cabling except for the ifi psu) using a run o the mill aorus gigabyte motherboard and coffee lake cpu. Deeper, and better soundstage, improved dynamics etc...BUT...the magic, to my ears lies in the silver cabling. When I changed the stock cable of the psu feeding the external hdd to pure silver, the change was apparent. More analog is the best way to describe it. As for the sotm motherboard, it's well worth the asking price to my ears.

yup, if you have a chance, please try to use the sCLK-EX connection in future :)

[87mpi]

Could this motherboard be compatible with xeon e3 1235L v5 socket 1151? 

[stefano_mbp]

6 minutes ago, 87mpi said:

Could this motherboard be compatible with xeon e3 1235L v5 socket 1151? 

You can check it here and here

[Exocer]

On 11/6/2022 at 9:58 PM, MayfromSOtM said:

yup, if you have a chance, please try to use the sCLK-EX connection in future :)

Its great that you can add the sCLK-EX at a later date 😎.

[Exocer]

Hi all,

I have had the pleasure of using the SOTM SMB-Q370 for the last few days. Let me cut to the chase: I am very pleasantly surprised by the improvements in resolution, soundstage size and transparency. This is without the enhancements from the clock board. I expect that the clock board will takes things to a new level and I will report on that when/if the time comes.

 

Going with the SOTM SMB-Q370 can be a complicated choice because we've learned several key attributes to focus on for SQ:

1. Going CPU direct is best.

2. Robust VRM is great for SQ.

 

• I am here to assure you that my i9 9900k glides wonderfully and without issue in the neighborhood of 4.8ghz (down slightly from 5ghz). The VRM is doing a wonderful job.
• Do not feel negatively about the fact that you will utilize the PCH more. The SQ from this board is significantly better than the already wonderful Designare (which allowed me to go CPU direct for my JCAT USB XE, Femto NVME, and, Startech Fiber NIC).

This sounds somewhat like a sales pitch or "buyers justification", but I am simply sharing my astonishment with this board. I was a bit underwhelmed for the first 12 hours or so. I had wondered if the board was overpriced and only offered a true benefit with the clock board. Let's just say I have paid more than the price of this board for other items that have had far less impact from 20 hours and onward. I believe SOTM when they say this board was built with audio parts that sound good. I am really impressed with what they've accomplished and I have yet to poke around in the bios to disable the features I will not be using (this should result in a further SQ uptick).

 

I hope @MayfromSOtM can confirm if there are plans to release another board in the future with the same technology, but with support for newer CPUs. I was fortunate that I had not already moved on from the i9 9900k but most others on this forum have already done so. The i9 9900k is difficult to find new a this point, many of the CPUs on ebay have been abused by overclockers (I'm an ex-oc-er :D) so yeah, the older chipset limits the appeal quite a bit, which is a shame because this motherboard is ridiculously good and should have more widespread acclaim for what it accomplishes. I suppose its tough to answer this question now, as this could take away from sales of the current board. 

 

Either way... SOTM did a wonderful job here and I am keen for others to try and share if they're hearing what I am hearing! Another post will follow once I've done some tweeks/breakin.

 

Cheers,

-Rob

[The Computer Audiophile]

26 minutes ago, Exocer said:

Hi all,

I have had the pleasure of using the SOTM SMB-Q370 for the last few days. Let me cut to the chase: I am very pleasantly surprised by the improvements in resolution, soundstage size and transparency. This is without the enhancements from the clock board. I expect that the clock board will takes things to a new level and I will report on that when/if the time comes.

 

Going with the SOTM SMB-Q370 can be a complicated choice because we've learned several key attributes to focus on for SQ:

1. Going CPU direct is best.

2. Robust VRM is great for SQ.

 

• I am here to assure you that my i9 9900k glides wonderfully and without issue in the neighborhood of 4.8ghz (down slightly from 5ghz). The VRM is doing a wonderful job.
• Do not feel negatively about the fact that you will utilize the PCH more. The SQ from this board is significantly better than the already wonderful Designare (which allowed me to go CPU direct for my JCAT USB XE, Femto NVME, and, Startech Fiber NIC).

This sounds somewhat like a sales pitch or "buyers justification", but I am simply sharing my astonishment with this board. I was a bit underwhelmed for the first 12 hours or so. I had wondered if the board was overpriced and only offered a true benefit with the clock board. Let's just say I have paid more than the price of this board for other items that have had far less impact from 20 hours and onward. I believe SOTM when they say this board was built with audio parts that sound good. I am really impressed with what they've accomplished and I have yet to poke around in the bios to disable the features I will not be using (this should result in a further SQ uptick).

 

I hope @MayfromSOtM can confirm if there are plans to release another board in the future with the same technology, but with support for newer CPUs. I was fortunate that I had not already moved on from the i9 9900k but most others on this forum have already done so. The i9 9900k is difficult to find new a this point, many of the CPUs on ebay have been abused by overclockers (I'm an ex-oc-er :D) so yeah, the older chipset limits the appeal quite a bit, which is a shame because this motherboard is ridiculously good and should have more widespread acclaim for what it accomplishes. I suppose its tough to answer this question now, as this could take away from sales of the current board. 

 

Either way... SOTM did a wonderful job here and I am keen for others to try and share if they're hearing what I am hearing! Another post will follow once I've done some tweeks/breakin.

 

Cheers,

-Rob

Great to read Rob!

[Gavin1977]

Great job Rob - Finally someone gave the SOTM a quality power supply and associated equipment to see what it’s really capable of - Bravo!

 

I just wish SOTM would have done it justice to start with.

[RickyV]

What a coincidence, just this morning I was googling the i9 9900K to see what its price was only to find out it’s not for sale anymore. This hole week I was thinking about a new server what power supply to use and what motherboard etc. Nothing to serious still saving money my new house. What I do not understand is why SOTM made such an effort to design this motherboard but you can’t buy the top spec cpu anymore? How long will it take before the other cpu will become obsolete?

[Dev]

31 minutes ago, RickyV said:

What a coincidence, just this morning I was googling the i9 9900K to see what its price was only to find out it’s not for sale anymore. This hole week I was thinking about a new server what power supply to use and what motherboard etc. Nothing to serious still saving money my new house. What I do not understand is why SOTM made such an effort to design this motherboard but you can’t buy the top spec cpu anymore? How long will it take before the other cpu will become obsolete?

 

I think Sotm started the development when 8th/9th gen were in its prime but by the time they were able to release the product to the market, the ship has sailed. Building an x86 board, as complex as it is, from scratch, even if you start with a reference board which all manufacturers does, takes a quiet a bit of time (and there are too many things that can go wrong) and I applaud Sotm's effort towards it. Now that they have the expertise, I believe supporting the latest gen proc will be easier for them, nevertheless still being challenging.

[RickyV]

26 minutes ago, Dev said:

 

I think Sotm started the development when 8th/9th gen were in its prime but by the time they were able to release the product to the market, the ship has sailed. Building an x86 board, as complex as it is, from scratch, even if you start with a reference board which all manufacturers does, takes a quiet a bit of time (and there are too many things that can go wrong) and I applaud Sotm's effort towards it. Now that they have the expertise, I believe supporting the latest gen proc will be easier for them, nevertheless still being challenging.

Yeah their efforts are certainly admirable but I can only hope they are already busy reviced version.

 

Edit: certainly with @Exocer  quality power supply findings.

[Patatorz]

I’m using this smb-q370 since 6 months with in addition the superclock for the MB (no other sotm boards like Ethernet or usb). The superclock is powered by external 12v (uptone js2) and 10Mhz reference clock. CPU is a 9900k. The MB is powered by a ULPS from Pachanko feeding a Taiko DC/AtX. 

im very satisfied with the performance of the server and good step forward vs my previous one.

i also appreciate the support from sotm even if still not possible to make a solarflare NIC board working : this board is preventing the SMB-Q370 booting. We should probably find a solution. The bios is quite limited in terms of settings especially for cpu. One little trick, if you have multiple boot option, hitting F7 allows you to select the BBS screen to select your boot.

 

Best Regards 

[Exocer]

7 minutes ago, Patatorz said:

I’m using this smb-q370 since 6 months with in addition the superclock for the MB (no other sotm boards like Ethernet or usb). The superclock is powered by external 12v (uptone js2) and 10Mhz reference clock. CPU is a 9900k. The MB is powered by a ULPS from Pachanko feeding a Taiko DC/AtX. 

im very satisfied with the performance of the server and good step forward vs my previous one.

i also appreciate the support from sotm even if still not possible to make a solarflare NIC board working : this board is preventing the SMB-Q370 booting. We should probably find a solution. The bios is quite limited in terms of settings especially for cpu. One little trick, if you have multiple boot option, hitting F7 allows you to select the BBS screen to select your boot.

 

Best Regards 

Which Solarflare nic? I tested my Solarflare nic for another AS member recently and it sounded very good. No boot issues.

[Patatorz]

Hi, the Solarflare x2522. It boots fine on a supermicro x111scl-f. Just updated the solarflare’s FW and remove the PXE boot. Will try again later this week.

[Gavin1977]

8th gen 8086k vs 9th gen 9900k... hmm...

 

Also Q370 only does dual channel memory.  So dual channel with 2x DDR4 sticks or dual channel with 4x DDR4 sticks?  Absolutely zero guidance on what is preferable in the manual.

 

Is two sticks per channel worth it?

[Gavin1977]

25 minutes ago, Gavin1977 said:

8th gen 8086k vs 9th gen 9900k... hmm...

 

Also Q370 only does dual channel memory.  So dual channel with 2x DDR4 sticks or dual channel with 4x DDR4 sticks?  Absolutely zero guidance on what is preferable in the manual.

 

Is two sticks per channel worth it?

Found the answer... 4 sticks will serve as dual channel. only.  In fact 4 sticks would likely make the memory controller work harder, so 2 sticks is best.  Makes me question why four banks was included.

[Patatorz]

Standard MB customized by/for sotm and not fully designed from scratch ?

 

[Exocer]

On 1/16/2023 at 1:02 AM, Patatorz said:

Hi, the Solarflare x2522. It boots fine on a supermicro x111scl-f. Just updated the solarflare’s FW and remove the PXE boot. Will try again later this week.

Yeah I have the SFN 8522, which worked flawlessly with the SMB Q370.

[Patatorz]

Thanks I did not find time to put the x2522 on the Q370. Will try to do today after FW and PXE adjustments.

[Patatorz]

On 2/1/2023 at 7:15 AM, Exocer said:

Yeah I have the SFN 8522, which worked flawlessly with the SMB Q370.

So I tried the x2522 with FW updated and PXE boot disabled, still same problem : no boot. Would need to find a SFN8522

[di-fi]

On 11/5/2022 at 4:51 AM, Luvdac said:

The hdplex harness is soon to be replaced with hand drawn 99.99% solid core silver cabling.

@Luvdac did you replace the harness to good result? What cable exactly did you end up using?
what do you use to and from the Jcat nano?

thanks!

[Luvdac]

On 4/30/2023 at 6:52 PM, di-fi said:

@Luvdac did you replace the harness to good result? What cable exactly did you end up using?
what do you use to and from the Jcat nano?

thanks!

Yes. The harness is pure silver as are the cables from the nano psu's to the cards. I can hear the difference for the better. More relaxed ( more absence of noise/digital harshness). Recommended.

[Patatorz]

Hello, @MayfromSOtM just saw that you released the firmware D8260T35 has been released on late july. Any information concerning this update ? Any improved compatibility (x2522 boards) ?

[Patatorz]

I made the update from my side but did not identify some big changes like cpu tweaking etc… did somebody else make this upgrade ?

[MayfromSOtM]

On 9/2/2023 at 12:27 AM, Patatorz said:

Hello, @MayfromSOtM just saw that you released the firmware D8260T35 has been released on late july. Any information concerning this update ? Any improved compatibility (x2522 boards) ?

Base on D8260T34, 

1. Change  SMBIOS manufacture string and product name.

[Patatorz]

Ok so mainly no big changes.