We got some new gear in-house – while a full review is coming, here’s a teaser photo…
Category: New Products
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New Product: 1U Rack Dual Temperature and Humidity Sensor
We had some requests for a 1U sensor that did more than just read the temperature in one spot in the chassis and after looking at what was available we decided to make our own.
Featuring two temperature sensors with 1M probes and an ambient temperature+humidity sensor, it’s a great way of measuring intake/exhaust temperatures as well as the internal rack temperature with the added bonus of humidity. At 1U it takes up a minimal amount of rack space and the probes are quite thin, making it practical to route them around your rack.
Let us know if you want one included with your next server build!
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Scythe 92mm S-Flex SFF92B fans
We’ve been trying to find a 92mm fan we’re happy with for a little while; this is the latest contender, the Scythe 92mm S-Flex. Featuring a Sony Fluid Dynamic Bearing, it’s supposed to be quiet and efficient – we’re trialling it on some of our 4U CPU coolers to see how it fares in terms of efficient, quiet cooling that provides a predictable temperature and airflow level.
It’s not the most visually interesting fan in the world but since it’s going to be living in a server its entire life interesting aesthetics will probably go unappreciated by most. Initial results look promising – this one may well find its way into your next server build.
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Corsair SP120 Overview/Review
Corsair’s new lines of fan are divided into AF – for airflow in open-air setups – and SP, or static pressure-oriented fans, more designed for placement adjacent to radiators or other areas where airflow is tight. The fans we’re looking at today are the 120mm SP range:
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Asus Z9PE-D16 review: Part One
Up for review today we have one of Asus’ dual-socket-2011 server motherboards – the Z9PE-D16. Hit the break to find out what it’s all about and why you might care about it even if you don’t need to run two CPUs…
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Corsair SP120 fans
We have a handful of the new Corsair fans in for testing – initial results look promising.
The SP line are optimised for static pressure, which means they’re ideal for use on cooling radiators or other places where there is restricted airflow, like storage chassis’ or behind narrow grilles. This is in contrast to the other new fans from Corsair’s – the AF line – which are better suited for more open-air use. One nifty feature is that each fan comes with red, white and blue coloured rings to match your system colour scheme – a nice nod towards those of us who build colour-coordinated systems.
A full write-up coming soon!
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Western Digital 2TB Red Drive review (WD20EFRX)
Up until now Western Digital have separated their hard drive lines into three; Blue for consumer drives, Green for low-power drives and Black for performance. This has now been expanded with a fourth colour added to the stable; the WD Red NAS hard drive range. Western Digital tout these as being designed specifically for the usage patterns typically seen in a network-attached-storage (NAS) device – generally 24/7 operation, potentially poor ventilation and the likelihood of being in a RAID array of some description for mass media storage.
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Western Digital announce Red NAS drives
WD have announced a new line of drives specifically designed for 24/7 home and small business network-attached-storage use – dubbed the Red Series. Initial release information suggests improved power consumption across the board as well as improved performance and modifications to make them more suitable for constant use. The vibration compensation is quite interesting – 3D Active Balance, to use their term – and there is also mention of intelligent error recovery to prevent the drive dropping from a RAID controller.
You can read more about the drives here. Our testing unit is in-house and we should have some numbers soon!
