Viglen HX110i

Cooling isn't a concern in this compact chassis, as the SuperO Doctor III utility reported temperatures for both CPUs of 28C and 30C respectively, while the general system temperature sat at 35C. We also removed the server's top panel and found that, even after an hour, the temperatures didn't vary from those already reported with the lid on. In general, we found the processor heatsinks remained very cool to the touch, with the north bridge chip actually generating more heat.

In terms of power consumption, once again we see the Xeon LV delivering the goods. Using a PeakTech 9024 in-line power meter, we tested the server's total power consumption while idling and also with SiSoft's Sandra generating a heavy CPU load of between 80% and 90%. In idle, the HX110i drew a mere 87W, and under load this rose to only 101W. We compared this with a standard 2.4GHz dual Xeon 1U rack server equipped with three Ultra320 hard disks, and saw this pulling 228W in idle and a hefty 244W with the CPUs loaded.

Storage capacity is limited, but as a simple compute node the HX110i offers a lot. The Xeon LV processors cut power consumption massively and heat output is minimal, making the Viglen a good choice where low running costs are a key consideration.

Author: Dave Mitchell