ASUS RS100-X7 1U Server Barebone LGA 1155 Intel C202 DDR3 1600/1333/1066

Pros: Great case layout
Included PSU
Included Rails
Motherboard is a decent server motherboard (P8B-X)
Supports cheaper Corei3 CPUs or server grade Xeons
Uses ECC RAM
Plenty of SATA ports
Includes the CPU cooler and PCI-e riser card


Fits flush in the rack...unlike the guy mentioned before

Cons: No hot swap drives in front
No ability to mount SSDs or 2.5" drives. I had to use one screw and mount it. Not horrible....just annoying

Other Thoughts: I used this box for pfsense 2.0.3 with a Intel Quad 1000 NIC from eb@y. Great system that is plenty powerful for lots of VPN and many subnetworks with the extra NIC card.

Also, a note about the server not fitting "flush" as a different reviewer mentions. This server fits flush as long as you just lay the rails over the "ears" for the server. This allows you to both properly mount the server and to properly push it into the rack. Yes...it is over the ear and might seem odd for a moment....but just rack it like you would think and you'll notice it will work 100%.

Pros: I was hesitating to buy this barebone after reading the reviews. This server is very silent and is installed in a tripp-lite 12U rack. I am using Xeon 1230 V2 on this motherboard and is pretty much plug and play without any BIOS updates.

Cons: Nothing so far

Other Thoughts: buy this kingston memory N82E16820139077. Dont waste your time and money on anything else. I bought a samsung module listed on the ASUS vendor list for this server and received 1 long 3 short beeps after installing.

Pros: Price, 80+ power supply, included rails.

Cons: Drive mounting is awkward, only SATAII, super finicky about memory modules.

Other Thoughts: You can read the memory specs until you're blue in the face but unless you pick memory from the vendor list on the ASUS website, you're likely to fail. Actually achieving the 32GB memory limit is tricky as there are very very few 8GB sticks that will work with this system and even fewer places that sell them.

I have this configured with 16GB of Kingston memory, 2x WD Velociraptor HDDs, and a Xeon E3-1240 V2 and it flies. I had no trouble getting the V2 to work on the included BIOS.

Pros: The good: cheap, C202, low power usage, onboard LSI software. IPMI capable. Already has the PCIE "L" board, thankfully (you gotta wonder at this price right).

Quiet, space for 2x 3.5" drives, and space for a slim dvd drive.

Nice rail kit.

Included heatsink.

Cons: Server 2012/Windows 8 not bios compatible (Supermicro has a bios fix, Asus does not), $80 chip for IPMI to work, hassle to install 3.5" drives (you need to unscrew them from the bottom outside the case), single power supply only.

Heatsink seems a little...little for a server, the old P7 series had a better heatpipe design.

Powerbutton easy to bump, should be recessed on a server.

Other Thoughts: The Server 2012 part is why I was prompted to write this so others might not have the trouble I did. Client didn't specify server version so I will go back to 2008r2 for this build, but the next one will be a Supermicro.

The rest of my complaints are nothing really. You get what you pay for on the IPMI and drive install being difficult. Single power supply is fine too, but I would pay more for a similarly sized server with 2 powersupplies if I could find one this small.

The power button should be fixed at any price, it's a design flaw that costs nothing really, we haven't had anyone accidently power off the server yet, but I can see it happening.

All it needs is a new bios and it gets 5 eggs, lack of bios support on a server is a deadly bad sign...even at this price.

Pros: Well the idea is nice...

Cons: Unfortunately, this entire experience has been a sore one. Due to how I have to travel for work i was not able to get this RMA'd back to newegg in 30 days( because the server Rack i order with them . literally 31 days after order( about a week or so after everything actually arrived however )- as such I had to deal with ASUS support. This has been a struggle in itself. SO now I am trying to deal with a 10 RMA process that may or may not yeild results as i could tell the individual who I was working with( the second time ) really didnt want to be @ work that day. I get it; I've been there. None the less I am fairly concerned I am just going to have to purchase replacement from another manufacturer. If I have another experience like this Ill likely start shopping for another retailer as well.

Other Thoughts: Really disheartening experience, in spite of purchasing 10-20k is hardware from Newegg over the years, this is first time I have ever been compelled to do a write up. hard drives fail, CPU's crash OS's, and ram well sometimes it doesn check. its all art of the hardware game, and I am ok with it. but when I cant get an RMA for a series bad piece of hardware, it a real shame.

I cant place all the blame else where. Especially when ASUS motherboards are getting a bad rap online, I really should have been a little more mindful of that before purchasing more than 1 of these.

Pros: Cheap. Decent mobo layout and component placement. Jumpers give good options. Nice enough bios.

Cons: There are a lot of small issues that make this server worth less than it should be.

There is no DVD mounting tray.

The case design makes it hard to unplug network cables on my 4 port expansion card.

Rails supplied with the cabinet do not allow server to be mounted flush.

Other Thoughts: The server runs well, the motherboard is fine with the exception that the memory has power cables running against it which isn't going to make it any more reliable.

Bios is decent, jumpers are great. It's not a bad but watch your uses, it may not fit as well as you hope. If it wasn't for the above issues this would be a first rate server.