Well my system hasn’t shipped yet, and according to a few people it has a 10 day wait, so I will get it eventually (I hope). However thats not the reason for the post 😛
One of the issues I had with the exchange was the lower-end video card. Well, according to Dell (2 different agents) I can use my existing card, the GTX 280, in this new box and ship the other back to dell. So thats one less worry 🙂
Thanks to my dog and water – my XPS 730 finally kicked the bucket and having issues. Since I have complete care on the system (a must have by the way), they agreed to replace the system with “a like or better” model. Now since they don’t make the XPS 730 any longer it either had to be a Alienware (recently bought out by Dell) or a Studio XPS desktop. I was very worried thinking I could actually get “worse” (a lot of times they don’t go by the model, just GB, MB, or GHz). Well after waiting around 2 weeks to hear something from them I noticed a new order in my list. It was for a Alienware Aurora!!
Now compared to my XPS there are few draw backs…1) The video card is less powerful (260 vs 280), 2) the PSU is less powerful (1000w vs 875w), 3) no built-in bluetooth, and 4) the motherboard is smaller in regards to open slots. I could cancel this and get my money back from the XPS, or I can keep this system and be happy with the upgraded features of this system. Its hard choice since I need the money right now, like anyone else, but since I don’t have a desktop I most likely will keep this one.
I will follow up once I get the system with pictures, and maybe a video… 🙂
Here are the specs:
1 224-6493 Alienware Aurora Desktop
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8322 Cosmic Black, Alienware Aurora Chassis, 875W PSU
1 313-8750 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 313-8767 Dual Drives: Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (BD-ROM; DVD/CD Burner) and DVD-ROM
1 313-8948 Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
1 317-1886 Overclocked Intel Core i7 975 Extreme (3.6GHz, 8MB Cache)
1 317-1891 6GB Triple Channel 1067MHz DDR3
1 317-1904 Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling
1 317-2818 Accessory Kit, Aurora, Eng
1 320-0862 Single 1.8GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
1 320-7810 No Monitor
1 330-4769 Dell Resource DVD with Application Backup
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates:
1 330-6517 No Mouse
1 330-6518 No Keyboard
1 341-0436 300GB – SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 10k RPM, 16MB Cache HDD
1 410-0312 McAfee VirusScan Plus 15 Month Subscription (English)
1 410-1867 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANG
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
1 421-0974 CYBERLINK PDVD 8.0 ANW
1 421-0975 NERO 9, ANW
1 421-1424 Alienhead 3D
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware
1 421-2064 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 430-0637 1505 PCIe WLAN card with11n mini-Card & external antenna
Well, long story short. I love my new mac and its working well now. After speaking with customer service, I was told that everything would be fine and everything will work out, and well – it has…
Both Apple and Amazon were great in the return process and dealing with the issues that I had 🙂
I miss the E4300 in some ways, but you can’t get everything you want.
I was looking around for a way to bypass the password for my friends old Dell CPi laptop. I finally found a site that has it, but the zip file was corrupt 🙁 So I was looking around some more and I finally found it. (Found it here)
I am adding this to my bog cause it took me awhile to find the correct utility, and plus the file was “wild” on the internet anyway.
You need two things to make this work right:
1) A serial number ending with -D35B
2) The utility itself.
If you have a serial number ending with anything other than -D35B then I don’t think this is going to work (sorry to say). The only other way is to short out EEPROM.
For the utility, all you need to enter is the service tag of the machine following by the -D35B. For example, if on screen it says ZFRYX**-D35B then you enter that info when prompted by the program. You will then get a password to use and then you can unlock the PC.
The utility: Click Here
Directions to reset the EEPROM: Here and Here
Well, its not a full week yet, but its close enough 🙂
Now what do I have to say about the server you might ask? Well, in short – its great. I load tested it with Prime95 and did quite a few other things as well and its holding up just fine. The avg temp of the case is around 26 C (~78 F) and for the processor max 54 C (~129 F), low 38 C (~100 F). Another thing to note about these temps though, this is in a uncooled room, not in a datacenter. So overall I think its doing a pretty decent job.
The sound isn’t bad except when it starts up (sound like a jet), or when you hit 100% CPU for any length of time (which is expected since everything is passively cooled). The sound doesn’t interfere with any normal computing per say, but you can tell its there (in a corner of the room). The avg RPM is around 2400 or so, the max I believe is around 4000. The max noise level I believe (don’t quote me) is 63 dba, but it can push around 190 CFM at that time. These fan specs can be different depending on that fan model you have. Overall, I am used to it and it doesn’t bother me 🙂
One thing I do miss is the ability to see all the system temps. In Everest and in CPUID HW monitor, all you see is the CPU temps. Normally this would be fine, but I would love to see the HD, system case, and etc. The only way I am able to see the system case temp is through Dells System Administrator which I believe is connected to the DRAC. So without some form of DRAC installed (express or enterprise) you will not see this data (I believe).
The reason I don’t see the HD temps is cause its connected to the PERC raid. If I take a HD and connect it to one of the internal SATA connectors – it reports it. Now this hard drive is in the second bay of the 5 1/4 in compartment. I just had some mounts and used them. Its not a “secure” connection for a HD since the case is the tool-less design and it can slide in and out easily, but it didn’t vibrate from what I can hear. The screws came with the case so you don’t have to worry about getting those. All that I needed was the SATA cable, but I had a few of those laying around. Another thing I noticed, which is cool by the way, is that it supports the locking cables. That I didn’t expect, but I was pleased with that. The existing cables that come with the computer (5 HDs and 1 DVD drive) didn’t have that connector.
So all the cables came with the case, and you really need nothing expect a SATA cable if you didn’t order a another media drive.
The administration is really easy to use with the System Administrator especially with the RAID. You can possibly do more if you have the enterprise version, but it wasn’t needed in my case.
Overall I am very pleased with this purchase and would get another one for a ESXi server. Thats way in future though when I have some money…lol 🙂
Well, my Dell PowerEdge T410 finally arrived and it didn’t take long either. From order to my door (via 2nd day) was a bit more than a week. The box was huge, just as big as my XPS box, but a bit bigger. The box size was 33 in x 24 in x 18 in and weighted in around 61 lbs. When I first saw it on my door step I nearly was in awe that it wasn’t a oversize freight box…
When I finally opened it, the usual dell box was inside along with all manuals and all the usual setup info. As you basically can tell, my setup was fairly limited, but it will do the job I want it to do plus more.
My config was as follows:
I ordered 5 extra 1 TB HDs from newegg – Western Digital RE3 (WD1002FBYS). I used 4 in the system, then I kept the other one in a safe place just in case I one drive dies. The install was really easy as well as the setup with the PERC 6/I card. The PERC card looks like a renamed LSI controller card, but I could be wrong. The full initialization took quite a number of hours, but when it was done I loaded the OS and started to move all my data from one server, to another via the network. I was getting around 25 MB per sec on avg during the move (1 Gbe connection).
During the transfer I dunno what happened, but my older server crashed hard. I tried to do a cold boot, but it kept on freezing. So then I unplugged the box and let it sit for around 5 minutes, checked all the cables (just to be sure) and then plugged it back in. The box has been up since 😛 …go figure
So in total I have 2.7 TB in a RAID 5 (for the data) array with 160 GB in a RAID 1 config (for the OS).
The sound of the server isn’t that bad, I would say its the volume of my current server with around 3 smaller fans. So I could say its around 35 db, but that could vary on the work load.
Overall, I am very satisfied with this config and I will update soon with around a week of ownership. Please feel free to take a look at the photos of the server.
