Dell N047H Poweredge R710 System Board

Description

The Dell N047H (or 0N047H) is a Generation I (Gen 1) system board for the PowerEdge R710 server. It is one of the original production motherboards for this 2U rack-mount chassis, designed specifically for the first wave of Nehalem-based Intel Xeon processors.

Core Specifications

• Processor Support: * Dual LGA1366 sockets.

  • Optimized for Intel Xeon 5500 (Gainestown) series processors.

  • Power Limit: Generally rated for up to 95W TDP CPUs. It lacks the updated voltage regulators found in Gen II/III boards (like the MD99X) required for 130W processors.

• Memory Architecture: * 18 DIMM slots total (9 per processor).

  • Supports DDR3 Registered (RDIMM) or Unbuffered (UDIMM).

  • Maximum capacity: 192GB (using 16GB RDIMMs).

• Chipset: Intel 5520.

Expansion & Connectivity

The N047H provides the foundational I/O that established the R710 as a data center standard:

• PCIe Slots: 4 x PCIe Gen 2 slots (via two riser cards).

• Storage Interface: Dedicated internal PERC slot for RAID controllers (supports PERC 6/i, H200, or H700).

• Networking: Quad (4x) integrated Broadcom 5709 Gigabit Ethernet ports.

• Management: Integrated iDRAC6 (Lifecycle Controller) for remote management.

Technical Interfaces (Rear I/O)

Key Compatibility Note

Because the N047H is a Gen 1 board, it has specific limitations compared to later revisions (like the 0NH4P or MD99X):

1. CPU Restrictions: While it can run many 5600-series processors (Westmere-EP) after a BIOS update, it cannot safely support the high-performance 130W versions (e.g., X5680, X5690). Using these may result in power errors or a failure to POST.

2. Chassis Labeling: Servers originally shipped with this board will not have the “II” or “III” Roman numeral stickers on the front chassis or near the VGA port.

3. Ideal Use: This board is an excellent, budget-friendly replacement for standard file servers, web servers, or home labs using E5500 or L5640 series low-power processors.

Peer Tip: If you are upgrading your R710 to 6-core processors, ensure you update the BIOS to version 6.6.0 before swapping the CPUs, as the N047H may not recognize the newer microcode on older firmware versions.