The Aberdeen Stirling S15 Dual Xeon rackmount server is a little off the beaten path for Motherboards.org. We have tested some desktop units in the past and this is our first venture into the server world. There are a couple of interesting things about this rackmount unit that prompted us to give this product a try.
The first thing is of course the motherboard. Supermicro powers this unit and this Dual Xeon board is a far cry from the normal desktop products Supermicro submits to us. Check out the motherboard page in this review for more info on this unique board.
The second item of interest was the price versus features ratio. The Stirling S15 packs a powerful list of features. When you compare them against the big boys it becomes more apparent why some of these large companies have so much money.
It is amazing how much power you can fit into a case thinner than a pen cap. Why is density so important? Because space is valuable and it is easier to manage all your systems from one place. Instead of a room full of servers, one sturdy rack system can take care of everything. You can fit more than 40 1U servers per rack. You can even install your backup system, UPS, and power outlets inside one rack. Racks are compact, easy to service, and easy to manage.
Features
It is hard to believe you can fit all these features into a 1U case.
| PROCESSOR |
Dual Intel® Xeon™ processors |
| CHIPSET |
Intel E7500 chipset |
| SYSTEM MEMORY |
4 x 184-Pin DIMM Sockets
Up to 8GB ECC Registered PC2100 DDR SDRAM |
| ON BOARD I/O |
ATI Rage XL 8MB PCI graphic controller
2 Fast UART 16550 compatible serial ports
4 USB ports (2 front/2 rear)
PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
|
| ON BOARD IDE |
Concurrent PCI
2 x PCI Bus Master IDE Ports (Up to 4 IDE Devices)
Supports PIO Mode 3, 4: 17MB/Sec.(Max.)
DMA Mode 2: 22MB/Sec.(Max.)
UltraDMA 100/33MB/Sec. (Max.)
|
| ON BOARD LAN |
Intel Gigabit Ethernet controller
Intel 82550 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controller
|
| ON BOARD SCSI |
Dual channel Adaptec® AIC-7899W controller for Ultra160(320) SCSI
Adaptec Zero-channel SCSI RAID controller (2005S) support
SCA Subsystem
3 hot-swap Ultra160 SCA drive bays (for one-inch high, 80-pin SCA SCSI drives)
SCA backplanes provide power, bus termination
|
| EXPANSION SLOTS |
1 64-bit, 133MHz PCI-X (full length)
1 64-bit, 66MHz PCI (low profile)
1 VXB
|
| CHASSIS |
19" rackmount ATX (1U height)
400W cold-swappable power supply
Auto-switching 140/240V AC power
2 x 10cm blower fans
LED indicators for power on, network activity, IDE HDD activity
Power ON/OFF and system reset switches
Chassis intrusion switch
|
| EXPANSION BAYS |
One 3.5" slim drive bay
One 5.25" slim drive bay
Three 3.5" x 1" drive bays
|
| PC HEALTH MONITORING |
Four onboard voltage monitors for CPU cores, + 5V and + 12V
Four fan status
Environmental temperature monitor and control
Chassis and CPU overheat alarm, LED indication and control
CPU fan auto-off in sleep mode
Chassis intrusion switch header
System resource alert
Supermicro System Management Utility
|
| BIOS |
4 Mb AMI® Flash ROM
ACPI/APM power management
Plug and Play (PnP)
BIOS rescue recovery feature
Hardware BIOS virus protection
Power-up mode control for recovery from AC power loss
|
