Conclusions and Awards

This has been a very interesting first look at Intel's new server solution and to be brutally fair they have surpassed our expectations.   The chassis, simple and easy to strip down and upgrade when required.  Acoustics' from the supplied PSU, the intake and exhaust fans are much better than previous offerings.   This will as we mentioned in the introduction suit many SoHo, small and medium business's as this pedestal mount has so much flexibility to offer all.   Although plain and simple black molding it will not look out of place in any office purring away in the background.   Those wishing to make use of the 1U Rackmounts will have no problems putting these into place within their existing builds.   Whether Pedestal or 1U each has an array of additional fittings that can be ordered directly from you supplier.   Each chassis has enough storage room to keep many happy for a very long time to come as demonstrated within.  Some will be interested in the render speeds which are all within the acceptable limitations, so this can be used as a render node comfortably overnight.   So we have in effect a sound position were to start.   

The mainboards.  These are simple yet robust with huge potential for upgrading as required, embracing the new technology Intel et al has to offer now and in the future.  We also see the ability to utilise a multi monitor scenario if so required using the onboard VGA and as we did slotting into place an additional PCI Express graphic's card.   Once more we see unfold capabilities of what this small but efficient mainboard can do, many thoughts will be whizzing around now. 

We have demonstrated just how easily a unit of this magnitude can be readily shifted up a gear without breaking the bank, improving performance and capacity at a snip of the cost.   Backup storage units can be very expensive but have their place.   However for the end-user wanting to make more of their purchase then this is one simple route to take.

Not taking away the prize from Intel's day at the races, the new WD 2TB RE4 7200rpm drives certainly have the power from within.  They performed impeccably returning some pretty mind boggling results in both a single drive solution then ramping it up a gear into Raid 1.  There will be some serious eyes perusing the results within as the Read / Writes are very fast indeed.    Here we see 3 1/2" hard drive technology at its finest to date.

The synthetic and file tests showed us just what could be achieved easily.  There is good memory bandwidth that will allow swift transactions to take place.  A reduction in overall power consumption though notwithstanding - no reduction in performance which is the key message we have to absorb.

This has been a bold step forward by Intel in todays bitterly fought market place.  Though it gives the VAR's and S.I.'s that opportunity of making some more good profit with the complete all in one solutions that have been carefully though out.   Todays server market place is extremely tight with small margins in this area.   There are thoughts and some forecasts that the recession is nearing an end so an inexpensive solution of this calibre has to be seriously considered by all parties concerned

When you look at the provided picture below of all the wears laid out it does make you think.  They look neat, perform exceedingly well together and the results are very good overall.   The thrust will be on to get these items in front of the customers quickly.

Moving onto our awards.  It is a very rare opportunity to see so many new items out in one first outing like this therefore in an unprecedented move the awards to both Intel and Western Digital are;

For Intel

For Western Digital

Page 1 - Intel® Xeon® processor 3400 series
Page 2 - Intel® Server Board S3420GP and Intel® Server Chassis SC5650
Page 3 - System Build Pictures
Page 4 - System Set-Up and Software Used
Page 5 - SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4 Part 1
Page 6 - SiSoftware Sandra 2009 SP4 Part 2 and Everest Ultimate 5.02 Cache and Memory Test
Page 7 - Hard Drive Test
Page 8 - PC Mark 2005 Advanced and Performance Mark Version 7
Page 9 - Rendering Tests
Page 10 - Stop. We Have More Money - Introducing the WD 2TB RE4 7200RPM Drive
Page 11 - 1 X WD 2TB RE4 7200RPM Drive Tests
Page 12 - 2 X WD 2TB RE4 7200RPM Configured into Raid 1 Drive Tests
Page 12a - Windows Shadow Back-Up and File Transfer Tests
Page 14 - Conclusions and Awards