Tyan Tempest i5000XT S2696

BIOS:

Tyan employs a Phoenix Technologies BIOS with the Tyan Tempest i5000XT. For testing the BIOS version we had used was V1.02 and the build date was September 14, 2006. The options available from the advanced page include hardware monitoring, BIOS event logging, advanced Chipset control, advanced processor options, diskette controller, ATA controller, LSI SAS interface, integrated network interface, integrated audio, integrated 1394, integrated USB, I/O device configuration, and PCI configuration. The hardware sensors include both CPU die temperatures, CPU fan speeds, rear fan speed, font fan speed, and expansion slot fan speed. The monitored voltages are for the CPUs, CPU VTT, VCC 1.5V, VCC 3.3V, and VCC 5V.

Performance:

As we have already delivered an extensive number of benchmarks using this motherboard for our Intel Xeon 5300 Clovertown Preview, we will not be delivering any additional performance metrics in this piece. The Tyan Tempest i5000XT had operated flawlessly when using Intel's Xeon E5320, 5150, and 5020 processors. The motherboard had no problems with Fedora Core 6 using the Linux 2.6.18 kernel.

Conclusion:

Based upon our experience thus far with the Tempest i5000XT S2696 as well as the three other Tempest motherboards we have tested, we can express full confidence in this motherboard. The motherboard is based upon Intel's 5000X server/workstation Chipset and supports two Intel Xeon 5000/5100/5300 processors as well as supporting dual PCI Express x16 slots, eight SAS ports, and six Serial ATA 2.0 ports. The capabilities for this Extended ATX motherboard are certainly astonishing. With its integration of IEEE-1394a Firewire and onboard HD audio this motherboard can certainly perform well in both server and workstation environments. After having spent nearly a month with this motherboard we have no real complaints about the Tempest i5000XT S2696. The price, however, for this motherboard is approximately $550 USD.