cover
Mike B.

Mike B.

Joined on 06/29/11

0
0

Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 11
Most Favorable Review

Good unit

Athena Power AP-RRP4ATX6808 20+4Pin 800W Redundant 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATLAS 800 PLUS Server Power Supply with PM Bus
Athena Power AP-RRP4ATX6808 20+4Pin 800W Redundant 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATLAS 800 PLUS Server Power Supply with PM Bus

Pros: This is a decent little power supply. It is very sturdy and well built which gives the impression it'll last a long time. It isn't clear from the specifications, but it does have two 8 pin CPU power connectors which some server motherboards require. It also has plenty of other connectors for drives and peripherals.

Cons: There's a few small connectors that I don't know the purpose for. No manual is included or even available to describe them. I can only assume certain motherboards or cases have a spot for them.

Overall Review: This fits the Chenbro SR107 server chassis with adapter bracket part number 83H552107-004. You will have to remove the mysterious switch from the side of the PSU, but that's the only issue.

11/13/2012
Most Critical Review

Works unless you add a WiFi card

ASUS H97M-E/CSM LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS H97M-E/CSM LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: Legendary Asus build quality and feature set. Love their UEFI. Has everything you might need in a business environment. With a SSD, these things boot Windows 7 before the logo stops swirling.

Cons: I bought two of these for budget Mastercam stations. One of them has to use WiFi, and I could not find a WiFi card that didn't cause blue screens during file transfers. I even used an Asus brand card and moved them around to different slots. Had to swap to the Z97K CSM model to get it stable. I ran hours and hours of diagnostics and everything came back good. Same WiFi cards work fine in any other computer.

Overall Review: Would not recommend this one. If it has any sort of stability issue I cross it off my list for good.

UPDATE THE BIOS

HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL PCI-Express x4 Low Profile SATA / SAS RAID Controller Card
HighPoint RocketRAID 2680 SGL PCI-Express x4 Low Profile SATA / SAS RAID Controller Card

Pros: This is a cheap yet powerful card for entry level RAID systems. The setup of RAID arrays is pretty straightforward. It was a breeze to configure a 16TB RAID 5 array using 4TB drives. And one of my favorite features, the management software can send emails in the event of drive failure.

Cons: Update the BIOS as soon as you install this card! The unit I received had the original BIOS from 2008 and would not recognize the 4TB drives I had plugged into it. The drivers on the CD were also from 2008 and useless. I also had problems getting the management software to recognize the controller, but after installing it as administrator that started working.

Overall Review: I have used several HighPoint RAID controllers now. They all have their own little faults, but they do work. I highly recommend them if you aren't concerned about peak performance. This card is compatible with the Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, but you may not be able to access the controller BIOS with a wireless keyboard.

I like

ASUS Z9PE-D16/2L SSI EEB Server Motherboard Dual LGA 2011 DDR3 1600
ASUS Z9PE-D16/2L SSI EEB Server Motherboard Dual LGA 2011 DDR3 1600

Pros: I haven't done very many server builds, but so far I am impressed with Asus. This board is laid out well and comes with plenty of SATA cables. The BIOS is incredibly feature rich, probably more so than anyone would ever need. The manuals detail every last setting and include very detailed pictures of connector locations.

Cons: The POST process is very slow. You can disable the LAN option ROMs to speed it up quite a bit. Make sure the chassis intrusion jumper is left in place or leave the side panel on when booting it up or it will halt with a fatal error!

Overall Review: I've tried server motherboards from Intel and Supermicro but they always have little quirks that make them a pain to use. Asus is more generic and much simpler to setup and start using. They have been my go to brand for many years, and will continue to be.

10/30/2012

Nice cooler

Dynatron R17 Intel Sandy Bridge EP/EX Processors for socket 2011 3U/Workstation Active Solution 2 Ball Bearing CPU Cooler
Dynatron R17 Intel Sandy Bridge EP/EX Processors for socket 2011 3U/Workstation Active Solution 2 Ball Bearing CPU Cooler

Pros: This is a very nice looking cooler. It's a shame it will be tucked away in a server cabinet all of its life. It is very quiet and seems to work well mated to a E5-2620. Installation was very simple and straightforward.

Cons: none

Overall Review: Fits nicely on Asus Z9PE-D16/2L

10/30/2012

Excellent

Kingston 16GB (4 x 4GB) ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory SR x4 Model KVR16R11S4K4/16
Kingston 16GB (4 x 4GB) ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory SR x4 Model KVR16R11S4K4/16

Pros: It works. What else can I say?

Cons: none

Overall Review: Bought this for Asus Z9PE-D16/2L based on Kingston's compatibility search.

10/30/2012