Pros & Cons
Aberdeen Stirling 208S Specs
| Operating System: | Windows Server 2003 |
| Processor Family: | Intel Xeon |
| RAID: | Yes |
| RAM: | 1 GB |
| Storage Capacity (as Tested): | 219 GB |
| Type: | Server |
Company:
Aberdeen LLC, http://www.aberdeeninc.com
Price:
$6,750 direct
Spec Data:
Dual 3.6-GHz Intel Xeon (Nocona), 1GB 400-MHz DDR2 SDRAM, three 73GB 15,000-rpm SCSI drives in a RAID 5 array, Adaptec 2120S U320 SCSI RAID controller, 3 PCI Express (two x8, one x4), 3 PCI-X slots, dual hot-swappable 500W power supplies, Windows Server 2003 Standard.
Pros:
PCI Express slots without the use of riser cards. Very good WebBench performance. Optional XDAS external storage chassis capable of over 4TB of RAID protected/performance storage. Plenty of PCI-X and PCI Express slots. 8 DIMM slots for future EM64T memory use.
Cons:
PCI Express cards of any type are still rare. "Only" 4 fans could be a problem if one fails. Non-riser design locks the 208S into low profile PCI-X and PCI Express form factors. Lacks some of the corporate management features of its competition.
Bottom Line:
Excellent performance and feature set are here, but sticker shock may set in when considering this non-Big Boy vendor.
Review
Aberdeen is a small manufacturer that seems to be going for the cachet of a boutique PC vendor. Like many specialty shops, Aberdeen doesn't always do things quite the same way as the large vendors. Click here to read our of
Aberdeen is a small manufacturer that seems to be going for the cachet of a boutique PC vendor. Like many specialty shops, Aberdeen doesn't always do things quite the same way as the large vendors. In the case of the Aberdeen Stirling 208S, the company has gone with a Supermicro motherboard. The result is the only new Xeon server in our roundup that has full PCI Express support via slots.
Since server-specific PCI Express cards are still in the development stages, there is no way to test whether this motherboard is prone to the Intel glitch with PCI Express peripherals. But Aberdeen insists the solution works and stands behind the hardware. Keep in mind that unlike the other servers, the 208S doesn't use a riser card for its expansion slots. Any PCI-X or PCI Express cards installed must be of the low-profile variety, which may or may not be a problem, depending on your usage.
Like the other servers here, the 208S has six hot-swappable drive bays, on-board Gigabit NICs, and dual 3.6-GHz Xeon processors. The 208S is essentially an open box, with vents in the front and back. Four fans in the center of the server share the task of cooling the CPU and the rest of the box. The design makes it fairly easy to get inside to upgrade or swap out components. But the 208S is noisy, which is a consideration if it's going to reside in a crowded office and not in an isolated data center.
Aberdeen can configure the 208S with LANDesk Management software, and the system's IPMI features can give network administrators basic management capabilities. But unlike the other servers here, the 208S really isn't sold as a large-enterprise managed server.
Still, Aberdeen thinks big. The company sent us an optional storage device called the XDAS: This scalable unit attaches to the Stirling using SCSI, yet contains SATA hard drives. Filling all 12 drive bays yields an impressive 4 terabytes of storage. Even the 3TB version ($8,339 direct) that we got is terrific for video serving or other storage-intensive tasks.
As a performer, the 208S did very well on our WebBench tests. It produced performance numbers similar to those of the Dell PowerEdge 2850, which was our overall top scorer. On NetBench, though, the 208S turned in the weakest scores of the bunch. Its less powerful RAID solution means it is not the best choice here for a high-power, high-availability file server.
If, however, you want a solo server for development or a high-performance Web server for a test labs environment, the 208S is a good choice. Companies using an IPMI-based management suite to control and configure servers will find that the 208S can fit in, but only if they aren't locked into using certain competitors' management packages. Another problem is that Aberdeen's resemblance to the boutique PC vendors extends to its pricing. Sticker shock could compromise your interest in the 208S.
Final Thoughts
