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If you have not seen the competition or other options available, take a look at our Battle of the Home Servers and the EX487 review to see the various options that are already out there for Windows Home Server systems, either OEM or ones you can design on your own.
I will preface the entire review by stating that this chassis is not by any means an exclusive Windows Home Server solution. It will work and includes drivers for all flavors of Windows and Linux, if you desire to use it for a different application. However, for the purposes of this review I will be solely approaching the unit as a platform for WHS as I feel it was what most our readers are interested in.
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Product Label
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Delta Power Supply Label
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Now let's move onto the specifications of the unit! Unlike the Chenbro chassis from the Battle, which was just an empty chassis with power supply, the VIA NSD-7800 is essentially complete. End users only need to throw in a hard drive and the operating system itself to get started. For comparison, I will use the HP MediaSmart Server EX487 as my baseline unit since, besides being what I own, is also arguably the leading Home Server system on the market.
DIMENSIONS
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HP EX487
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VIA NSD-7800
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Length
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9.8" |
13.3" |
| Width |
5.5" |
5.9" |
| Height |
9.2" |
13.3" |
| PSU |
200W |
300W |
Drive Bays
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4 |
8 |
| Weight |
12.7lbs |
14.3lbs |
TECHNICAL SPECS
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HP EX487 |
VIA NSD-7800
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| CPU |
Intel Celeron 440 2.0Ghz 64-bit |
VIA C7-D 1.5Ghz |
| Memory |
2gb DDR2 |
1gb DDR2
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| Ethernet |
10/100/1000 |
10/100/1000 |
USB
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4 (1 front, 3 rear)
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4 (rear)
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| eSATA |
1 (rear)
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0 |
Drives Included
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1.5tb (2 x 750gb)
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0 |
MSRP
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$749 |
$589 |
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Here's how VIA describes it:
The VIA NSD7800 addresses the growing need for a compact,
user-friendly home server solution as well as NAS, iSCSI, Media
Server and NVR applications to offer system integrators a superbly
versatile product.
The VIA NSD7800
supports up to eight 3.5" desktop hard drives and Gigabit networking
for fast, efficient file transfer speeds. Powered by a power-efficient
VIA C7-D processor it offers a power-efficient, low heat system that
can be relied upon in always-on server implementations.
Key Features include:
- Desktop tower design
- Supports eight SATA trays
- Supports one bootable Compact Flash type I slot
- Supports one VIA VT6130 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet and an optioanl 2nd Gigabit Ethernet port for ODM/OEM project requirements
- Supports four USB 2.0 ports
The
VIA NSD7800 supports a type-1 compact flash slot for embedded OS
installations and uses PCI-Express-based Gigabit networking to handle
file transfers quickly and efficiently. A mini-PCI port is also
available for additional security related add-in cards such as hardware
VPN or anti-virus modules.
LEDs include
individual S-ATA port activity, overall hard drive activity, network
activity and power. There are also custom LED control and push button
backup and recovery options.
The VIA
NSD7800 supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2007, Windows Home
Server and Linux. System monitoring and management includes
Wake-on-LAN, Wake-on-Alarm and Watch Dog Timer. A complete driver and
SDK is available to customers.
You can see some pretty full features included with the system. Something to pay particular note is which version and where you purchase. My unit for review did not include the VGA cable, so make sure if you purchase one you get it with the VGA as it's impossible to install without one. As with most of VIA's products, this product is as much geared for OEMs as consumers, and apparently there are some nice customizations an OEM could make including dual gigabit NICs and of course the VGA port. I am not aware of any OEMs currently selling the NSD-7800 but something to keep in mind in the future.
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