I-Star D-300 Server Case Review

A Radio Shack voltmeter was used to test the power supply rails during server idle and load. Load was tested using PCMark 05, which maxed the CPU at 100% during some tests. Load was also tested by copying files from the DVD drive to RAID 1 array, but readings were the same as idle.

Test setup Pentium 4 2.8GHz 800FSB with HT nVidia GeForce 2 AGP video card PCToys Copper Max P4 heatsink 1GB 400Mhz DDR memory Asus P4P800e motherboard (onboard SATA RAID) 2x 80GB Western Digital SATA HDD (RAID 1) Asus 16x DVD drive 1x 60mm case fan Windows Server 2003 SQL Server 2000

I-Star 300 watt Power Supply voltages 3.3v 5v 12v Idle 3.36 5.11 12.09 Load 3.344 5.16 11.97 Min/Max @ 5% tolerance 3.165/3.465 4.75/5.25 11.4/12.6

The power levels listed remained consistently rock-solid, not fluctuating one bit. When the CPU reached 100%, the 12v line immediately dropped to 11.97 volts and remained there until the CPU load dropped. The test results show that this power supply is within 2% tolerance on the 5v line and less than 1% tolerance on the 12v and 3.3v lines, even under load. A power supply with 1% tolerance is an excellent find and usually costs as much as this entire case!

Conclusion
You can save some money by building your own server, and the I-Star D Series is great for the do-it-yourselfer. 3U cases are appealing because you can build a server using standard desktop parts without adapters, which makes for an easy server project. The I-Star D-300 is a good base server for a decent price, but must be upgraded to truly offer server-quality features. On one hand it has superb construction and lockable aluminum doors, a decent power supply and lots of room to work. On the flip side the case lacks standard server features like hot-swap drive bays, enhanced cooling, front-panel monitoring and drive rails. The I-Star D-Storm Signature Series is designed for entry-level server applications, and is a good start for an expandable server.

	REPORT CARD : I-Star D-300 Rackmount Server Chassis category rating comments Construction 5 Rounded edges, 1.2mm steel, extremely sturdy with thick aluminum lockable doors. Innovation 3 Lots of room. Drive cages are removable, but hot-swap bays or slide-in mechanism would have been better alternative. Features 3 No extra 80mm fans, monitoring module, or mounting rails. Power Supply 4 Does the job well with no fluctuation and within 2% tolerance. May need more wattage for dual processors. Value 4 Average for a well-built case, but even an entry-level server case should have more goodies. Does include an excellent power supply, which usually isn’t supplied in this price range. FINAL VERDICT: 4 out of 5 stars