NEC Express5800 120Rh-1

Power fault tolerance is also on the cards, as the server came with both 650W hot-plug supplies included. Cooling is handled by a bank of eight dual-rotor fans spread across the chassis, and the only downside is their comparatively high noise levels. We sat the server next to the lab's similarly equipped Dell PowerEdge 1950 1U rack server, which proved to be far quieter.

The new ExpressScope Engine 2 improves NEC's remote management features considerably, but it still isn't up with vendors such as HP, IBM or Fujitsu Siemens, as power management and monitoring are conspicuous by their absence. With HP, for example, the ProLiant iLO2 chip adds both these features and allows you to choose from three settings that can dynamically control power consumption and also limit the total power draw.

The Express5800 120Rh-1 will provide a firm foundation as a front-line application server, but power consumption is on the high side as are operational noise levels. Nevertheless, it's well constructed and offers a very good specification for the price with room to expand.

Author: Dave Mitchell