The Supermicro SYS-E403-14B-FRN2T is an IoT server with a clean form factor. We’ve covered the Supermicro E403 platform several times over the past few years, but never reviewed it. That changes with this review. This is Supermicro’s edge server that offers plenty of connectivity and GPU computing in a compact chassis. There’s quite a bit going on with the onboard Intel Xeon 6 CPU. So let’s get down to business.

Supermicro SYS-E403-14B-FRN2T External Hardware Overview

One thing that makes this system different is its dimensions. Measuring 4.62 inches (117.348 mm) x 10.5 inches (266.7 mm) x 16 inches (406.4 mm), it’s a neat little box. One of the reasons this is so clean is that it’s a front I/O system.

The front left side has a redundant power supply and two hot-swappable 2.5-inch NVMe SSDs.

Next, you get two USB 3 Type-A ports. On some systems in the E403 series these were USB 2 ports, which I’m not entirely sure why it’s USB here or some other port.

Next to the ground point is a serial port, two more USB Type-A ports, and an out-of-band IPMI management port.

Onboard dual 10Gbase-T networking is provided by Intel X550 chipset.

Next is the VGA port, followed by the power and status LED cluster.

One of the most useful features so far is the array of three full-height PCIe slots.

As an aside, this is the same line we did. IP65 rated Supermicro outdoor edge system in action The idea is that this package provides a lot of flexibility for edge deployments.

Part of it is the rear. This is designed to be completely front serviceable, so there’s only a fan here. Having all the cables and power supplies in the front means you can cram them into a rack and still not have enough space in the back for human service. This is actually a very common use case, which is why you often see this type of configuration.

Now let’s take a quick look at the other side.

Now let’s go inside the server and see how it works.