Question 1

Does this come with the Atom processor?

Accepted Answer

Yes, my order came with the a CPU, although memory and disk drive are not included. Mounting bracket (MCP-220-00051-0N) will be required for smaller factor disk drives such as a 2.5" SSD.

Question 2

How many desktop or laptop hdd's can fit in this case? please specify which hdd in the answer and thanks!

Accepted Answer

Jason:

I think the HD bracket holes are set up for one large HD or two stacked 2.5 inch drives. There is lots of room on that one side so you may be able to wrestle more in there. Just remember HEAT and that the chassis does not have a fan but you can jury rig one in there. Personally, I would now use the small SSD like the Samsung 840 Pro to minimize heat.

Good Luck

Question 3

Has anyone put an additional 2 port or 4 port NIC in this? If so, which card did you use?

Accepted Answer

Yes. I used the Intel PRO/1000 PT dual port but a quad is also available. I have never had any issues and I have about half a dozen of these servers running in production with this card.

Question 4

What is the correct memory for this?

Accepted Answer

204-pin DDR3 800/667MHz unbuffered, non-ECC.  There are two DIMM slots. Supported DIMM sizes are 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2GB although I have found a couple 4GB single modules to work. Mobo supports up to 4GB total.

Question 5

NewEgg does not sell 800MHz DDR3 204-pin SO-DIMM Memory. From the system owners, what memory modules available on NewEgg have worked in your builds? I could not find the modules listed on the SuperMicro site on NewEgg.

Accepted Answer

I used 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model TSD34096M1333C9DC-E. I use these for pfSense (FreeBSD) as well as a door monitoring system (Win 7) with a total of 8 in service. Never had a problem with anything, including the memory.

Question 6

is this product compatible with VMware? Just want to double check here. Thanks

Accepted Answer

No. The processor does not support Intel virtualization extensions (vt-x) which is required by VMWare

Question 7

How much power does this typically draw as a pfsense router?

Accepted Answer

About 35 to 85 watts depending on he load and type

Question 8

Is it possible to add a sound card to this server?  There appears to be a PCI slot on the board and a cutout in the case for card mounting.

Accepted Answer

A sound card would fit. The PCI expansion slot is oriented sideways relative to the conventional position. In other words, it's parallel to the logic board, with a riser to step up and over.

The slot cutout in the chassis would be for a full-height PCI card. A low profile card would fit, if you had a full height bracket for your card.

I have a half-height PCIx8 dual-port Ethernet card with a full height bracket in this slot. It fits and works great.

Question 9

Hello,

I'm thinking of using this as a storage server.  Anyone have any suggestions on an SATA raid controller card to purchase?  I'm looking to set up an external raid.

Thanks,

-Tom

Accepted Answer

I would start by recommending the SYS-5018A-FTN4 instead. The D525 isn't very powerful and is limited in RAM. The SYS-5018A-FTN4 is an 8 core Atom and does very nicely for server type services. As for RAID, go with any of the LSI MegaRaid cards that fit your need. They have 4 and 8 port external, with 0, 512M and 1G of cache.

Personally, I use the 8 Core Atom, 16G memory, and an external SATA enclosure. (No hardware RAID) I use FreeBSD with ZFS, I trust the recovery much more than RAID6, and adding as SSD to the ZFS pool for caching lets me saturate the ethernet link with ease.

Question 10

Does this actually have IPMI? I don't see a 3rd NIC.

Accepted Answer

Quoting the fine manual, "For this particular motherboard, IPMI shares the same network interface with LAN1."

Questions & Answers