TYAN B2865G20S4H Industry 19" rack-mountable 1U chassis Barebone Server NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Socket 939 AMD Opteron Up to 1 GHz Hyper-Transport link support FSB

Cons: Noise (which doesn't matter in a data center anyway), and we could not get lm_sensors to work with this board. Also, as with all of Tyan's RAID support (including their "glorious" TARO chip) is still software RAID, so you're better off using easily-portable Linux RAID or finding a real RAID card (most applications requiring 4 drives or less are well-suited for Linux software RAID anyway).

Pros: Excellent air flow (a big problem with most 1U chassis); inexpensive; supported hardware is easy to find and inexpensive; 4 Drive bays; rails included (and they work well); CPU heatsink included (and it works well, too); a cabinet full of Tyan 1Us looks real sharp, even without "pretty faceplates".

Cons: VERY noisy!No way to lock in any of the hard drives.COM2 on the motherboard very difficult to bring out.

Pros: Very well laid out. Easy to put together.

Cons: Noisy, but that is to be expected with a 1U server.PCI retention clip is flimsy/cheap. This is a very minor issue.

Pros: Extremely nice layout.Nice looksExcellent driver and BIOS supportRock stable (so far)

Cons: SATA drivers need to be either integrated with the install cd or you need to plug in a floppy drive for the install. I was unable to get the nvidia ethernet drivers to integrate correctly - once in windows it installed fine

Pros: Amazing layout. Quick Easy and simple. Great potential.

Cons: A bit loud, though no moreso than any other 1U server. Fine in the server room or data closet; nothing you'd want by your desktop. As a Socket939 platform, 4gb of memory is all you get (and please make sure you use non-ECC... it's a desktop chipset, after all). The "hardware RAID" is, like all other BIOS-based RAIDs, really a form of software RAID; the software lives in the BIOS. This platform is not a substitute for, say, a NetApp Filer... don't expect it to do the work of a Cray and you'll be happy.

Pros: Great value. With the availability of dual-core Socket 939 CPUs (Athlon 64 X2 and Opteron 100-series), it's no trick at all to have a workgroup-level server for under a thousand dollars. The interior layout is clean, assembly from pile-of-boxes to ready-to-boot is under ten minutes, and the slidemount hard drives are a joy to work with. Stable, good OS support (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris/x86).

Cons: On-board NvRAID is next to useless in Linux, plan on spending some money on a good hardware RAID card or use the Linux kernels software RAID. Cat 5 cables are difficult to unclip since the sockets are placed nearly against the upper lip of the case with the clips facing upwards.

Pros: Easy setup, had it running in less than 20 minutes. Heat sink is HUGE, keeps the CPU nice and cool. Best packaging I've seen in years, outer box was beaten to a pulp in shipment but inner box and computer where unscathed.

Cons: We placed several of these in service with RAID controllers and WD REII drives, the Y series.The drives would jump out of the RAID array even though the drive was still good. Go to the WD site, they have upgraded firmaware that addresses this problem. It only affects the WD Y series of drives. Look in the knowledge base - answer ID 1493

Pros: This is a good server. But I am writing this review to maybe help others.

Cons: LOUD. some mention a bios update, but I have these in a colo facilty so the noise is not a problem for me.

Pros: 1U, solid construction, massive copper heatsink, great cooling, hot swapable HDs cost effective.

Cons: I just ordered 4 and 1 of them, the back plane will not recognize one of the drives. I repalced the back plane shipped from Tyan (2) and was still having touble with the drives. This one is going back.

Pros: They finally fixed the drive activy leds. If you have a backplane called the M1208, then the drive lights work. If you have an M1204, you are out of luck.Very good setup for the money and works well for me.

Cons: None really.

Pros: I run 10 servers with this barebone with Athlon/Opteron dual-core processors. Quick to assemble and has been rock solid for 6 months. Everything required such as rails and PCI/PCI-e riser cards are included.

Cons: No DDR2 or Socket F available in this series yet.Slightly flimsy - but not a problem if you leave it in a rack.Noisy as all heck - you can hear it two rooms away...

Pros: A 1U 4 bay rackmount for this price is awesome. It has a PCI Express riser, and can take dual-core processors with no problem. Great for colo boxes.

Cons: Only 4gigs of RAM.

Pros: Inexpensive. I have 3 of these servers and they have worked non stop without any problems. I had the hardware installed and server 2003 installed in an hour. Fastest setup I have ever experienced. Included rails worked fine for me.

Cons: Noisy fans, but that's to be expected; if you're going to cool a 1U server with four hard drives, you have to move a certain amount of air. There are no short cuts here, so that means that you need several high-RPM 40mm fans. The built-in RAID functionality is BIOS-based (meaning: software RAID; the software is in the BIOS rather than the operating system, but it's still software-RAID), rather than a true hardware-based solution. Also, the included rail kit is for four-post racks, NOT two-post.

Pros: This is a well-constructed, well-thought-out entry level server barebones. 1U chassis can be a challenge to package properly, but Tyan has done a good job in this regard. Airflow is excellent, front-to-back with little hindrance. A low-profile heatsink is included (many manufacturers charge extra for this); rack mounting rails are included (again, many manufacturers charge extra for this). Performance is excellent, and because the chipset is a common desktop chipset (nVidia nForce), driver support is also very good. Two Ethernet interfaces make it easy to integrate into a "proper" network (one with a separate admin/backup network) or as a Linux-based router/firewall. Four slidemount SATA drive bays in front are a fantastic feature. Assembles very quickly. An excellent alternative to the more-expensive Dell 850.

Cons: Needed to update firmware immediately - fans were very loud. After the update, they were very tollerable. Onboard raid uses NVRAID (not real RAID).

Pros: For the price, you cannot beat this deal. Teamed with an Athlon 64 X2 and 4GB of Corsair memory, this server is performing extremely well for me.

Cons: It's a very deep box, and the drivers for the chipset when combined with the firewall software have a habit of bluescreening. Just steer clear of the original firewall software, and you're fine. Or use third party drivers. Also the fans are LOUD! But then again, in a rack amongst several other loud, whirring machines, who really notices?

Pros: Solid midrange performance. This server will suffice for just about whatever you want to use it for. I've had it doing several jobs, as it was a trial to see where my company would go in the future. Overall, we are happy, this is a good all-purpose box. We've had it as a nameserver, a mailserver, a webserver/webdev box, and a backup box. It performed admirably for all of them.

Cons: none

Pros: Excellent machine. 4 SATA hot swap bays for easy drive management. Solid copper CPU heatsink with airflow fan shroud. small 1U form factor. Solid Tyan mainboard.

Cons: RAID has to be turned off for Linux (SuSE) to use it's own software RAID.

Pros: Great price for a 1U server box!

Cons: LOUD. Don't be dismayed by this, see other thoughts...

Pros: Convenient Size. Very easy to assemble. The default CD Reader is easily upgradeable; a LG Slim DVD Writer mdl. GWA-4082N installs in under 5 minutes. RAID 0+1 very easy to setup.

Cons: I had some trouble with the built-in slimline CD drive, but I could write that off as a 'compatability problem' with the OS I installed. It's loud, but if you've got this in your bedroom then you've probably got other problems to worry about.

Pros: So far, this box has been excellent. I'm running Ubuntu-Server 6.10 (Dapper Drake Prerelease) with an X2 processor, 64 bit, no problems once I got it installed.The fan speed control works very well, and the system stays absurdly cold- right now the CPU is 81 degrees, it never goes above 112 or so under load.The interior build is great! The fans all have handles for easy removal, the sata backplane is great, and I had no trouble plugging a few of the sata bays into my RAID card- I didn't even need to change cables. This is a heavy box, but it's worth it for the therman performance and solid build.

Cons: I had the same experience with buffered ram. No POST video. The Tyan tech knew the problem almost immediately. Proper RAM, and it fired right up.

Pros: Easy assembly, solid piece, well engineered and fast.