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Tyan Transport GT20 (B2865) Review |
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More Than Expected... |
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by Josh Walrath |
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Conclusion I was honestly not expecting much when we first received this barebones server. I was expecting a simple case with a Tomcat K8E mounted, with some basic drive cages with no real hot-swappable capabilities, and a low profile power supply. It turns out there is a lot more integration than I was expecting. All of Tyan’s barebones are designed from the ground up as fully functional servers. There is no “slapping together of components” and calling it good. Tyan did a very nice job with the design.
The cooler mounts very easily onto the board, and the springs on the screws insure that the correct amount of pressure is applied to the cooler when attached to the CPU. Construction was top notch, and I can not complain about any particular part being cheap. The server is constructed of heavy steel, it has plenty of fasteners to lock everything down, and the design is surprisingly free flowing and cool running. The 350 watt power supply is more than adequate to power a fully stocked server. Even if a user puts in the fastest Opteron, 4 GB of DDR, 4 large drives in RAID 5, and a standalone RAID card, the power supply should be able to handle the added load. In the year that I have tested the Tomcat K8E, it has never shown a single problem. Its stability is unmatched in my testing so far. I have compared it to other desktop boards from Albatron, MSI, Asus, and others and by far it has given me the fewest stability and compatibility problems. In the month we have tested the server itself it has never given a single problem as well, and has just continued to run non-stop. This particular barebones is approximately $570 in the US at most retailers. Once the components are added up, it costs about the same as an Antec 3U rackmount chassis with a 450 watt power supply with a motherboard with 4 separate drive bays and rails. Once the cover is taken off though, the amount of integration that is included with the Tyan server is pretty phenomenal. It is a bargain as compared to anything else out there at this time.
The output of 2.5 fans is directed through the CPU cooler by the shroud. Again, even in constant use, the cooler never became warm to the touch. Tyan has a winner on their hands, but they have done a pretty poor job in marketing it. Hopefully they are getting consumers to look at their products, because from what I have seen the engineers at Tyan have created barebones servers that are a step above the norm. Combined with Tyan’s outstanding serverboards, these are products that look to be able to withstand the test of time, and will bring customers an amazing ROI once final accounting is complete. These bullet-proof products are inexpensive, yet built to exacting standards, and perform well above the norm. Being a systems admin at a medium engineering firm, I find it hard to justify buying anything else after taking this dip into the Tyan barebones pool. Good, quality products that perform well for bottom dollar prices. If a consumer does not need service or support for their servers, then they would do themselves and their accountants a favor by building their own based on Tyan’s barebones rackmounts. This product has recieved one of the highest ratings that I have ever given a product. For the price a user pays, Tyan has certainly created a product that is worthy of such a score. In hard testing for over a year, the K8E motherboard has shown no issues and continued to run at a high level of performance, completely trouble free. The complete package is simply awesome when viewed from a features/price/performance standpoint. Tyan certainly has a compelling product on their hand with the Transport GT20 series. Overall Score: 96%
Excellence in Engineering Award
Pros Inexpensive High performance Server grade hardware Expandable Highly integrated functionality Hot swappable drive bays Packed with extras Rails included in the package Remote management features and upgrades Can easily upgrade to low profile DVD-R/RW Support to add low profile floppy with mounting hardware Did I mention inexpensive for what a buyer gets? Front USB ports Built-in RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 support
Cons Very loud (not unexpected for a high performance 1U rackmount) CD reader instead of DVD reader No integrated floppy nForce RAID 5 performance pretty dismal Needs more aggressive marketing to get the word out!!!
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