Supermicro 370SWD i810 microATX Socket-370

AMI BIOS is still featured on the 370SWD as it is on other Supermicro boards, but this time it's not AMI WinBIOS that Award BIOS users have come to hate. Instead, it's AMI's HiFlex Setup Utility that looks very similar to Award's 6.00PG used on most i810 boards. HiFlex retains the huge number of options that have always been available in the AMI BIOS, but they're still somewhat cryptically labeled, although not as poorly as in the past. Fortunately, this time the right half of the screen gives a brief description of each setting and the options available. The explanations are typical of what is found in motherboard manuals, which is to say they could be a lot better, but it's definitely better than nothing.

One of those settings that was incredibly cryptic on previous Supermicro boards that we've test is the method of adjusting the FSB of the motherboard. This time, it's fairly clearly labeled as "CPU Clock Frequency" and is available under Advanced Chipset Setup. Options include Auto / 66 / 72 / 100 / 107 / 112 / 117 / 125 / 133. FSB speeds above 100 MHz are available only if a 100 MHz FSB CPU is used or if an onboard jumper forces 100 MHz operation. A jumper on the board allows overriding the state of BSEL (commonly known as B21 on Slot-1 CPU's) to force either 66 or 100 MHz operation. AnandTech's testbed Celeron 366 which normally overclocks just fine to 83 x 5.5 = 458 required CAS 2 memory to even POST at this speed on the 370SWD and could not boot into Windows.

Hardware monitoring is integrated on the motherboard and can monitor 3 fan speeds, 7 voltages, and the CPU temperature. An thermally controlled fan header is included that remains off until a predefined temperature threshold is reached. Two standard 3-pin fan headers are also included and all are located near the CPU. CPU temperature is read from the on-die thermal diode.

When AnandTech looked at the i440BX based Supermicro 370SBA, we found that we could not enable ACPI support in Windows 98 no matter what we tried despite the claimed support from Supermicro. At first the same thing happened on the 370SWD and again we decided to take a look at the manual. Unlike last time, the information we needed was there. The trick is to disable advanced power management (APM) support in the BIOS. Not exactly the most intuitive option, but blame AMI, not Supermicro for this little bit of confusion.

Power management consists of pretty much the standard stuff these days. Wake on LAN and wake on modem ring headers are available to allow the system to power on in the presence of network activity or incoming call. The BIOS can be set to turn on the system at a specific time. The CPU fan can be shut off when the system suspends to quiet things down a bit. ACPI support is built into the BIOS for added power management under an ACPI compliant OS like Windows 98 or Windows 2000. The system can be configured to power on via hot key or mouse click as well, but what's interesting here is the option for USB keyboard power-on - a first for this reviewer.

As many other i810 boards are starting to do, Supermicro has also included Suspend to RAM (STR) as another power management feature. STR uses the +5VSB power from your ATX power supply to continue to power the system RAM while everything else is powered down (even the power supply) so that the system appears completely off. When the power switch is hit again, the system is up and running in just seconds. You'll need an ACPI compliant OS that is properly configured to take advantage of this feature. Fortunately, the manual covers the upgrade in Windows 98, the only publicly available OS currently to support ACPI. An onboard LED is always lit whenever the system is powered on or in suspend to RAM mode so that you remember that power is still being applied to the motherboard.

A nice touch is the ability to configure what the system will do when AC power is restored after a power outage - either remain off, turn on, or resume last power state. This is a feature often overlooked since ATX and soft power became available, but is critical for anyone using their system where it must be on 24/7 or as close as possible. It also allows for users to shut the system on and off from a surge protector.

Although lacking details on installing a motherboard, the manual is otherwise pretty good for the experienced user and includes detailed information on all connector pin outs as well as the various BIOS settings. The included driver CD is excellent and includes all the drivers and chipset patches you may need to get the system up and running. The CD autoruns and you simply click on each driver one by one in the order they are on screen and your system will be completely setup when you're done. Supermicro's own Super Doctor hardware monitoring utility is included as well for hardware monitoring support.