AMD Athlon MP 2200+ Server Roundup - September 2002

We did notice a design flaw with Elite PC's system, in particular their blower module. The system shipped in such a way that the blower module was actually cutting into the wires coming out of the power supply. The pictures below will give you a better idea of what sort of damage was done by the time we opened up the system.

A quick and dirty fix was to use some electrical tape on the open wires and to push them out of the way of the blower module, but we'd expect better care from the manufacturer to ensure this potentially dangerous situation would not arise in the field.

The three PCI expansion slots are located within a PCI riser module; in order to gain access to them you have to unscrew the module and pull up on it, doing so will reveal the three PCI slots you have for expansion. Just like CCSI, Elite PC used only one of the three PCI slots and populated it with a RAID card - in this case a single-channel Adaptec SCSI RAID adapter. The PCI riser module isn't the easiest to remove but it does make installing multiple cards at once much easier.

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Towards the front of the case there are two fans that move cool air over the surface of the hard drives. Gaining access to the additional 3.5" bay at the front of the case is a bit difficult with the CD-ROM drive in the way, not to mention that you're working in a very cramped area but it can be done.