Johan De Gelas with AnandTech IT Portal wrote a review on the Sun Fire X4450. His research shows that the only 2U server on the market that features the Quad Socket Intel Xeon MP 73xx platform is the Sun Fire X4450. Some of its features include:

• Two Fully Redundant PSUs (for virtualized consolidation)
• Six PCIe slots
• 32 DIMM slots

Unlike some of the competition's servers, Sun Fire X4450 has a bit more convenience when it comes to servicing the machine. Rather than having cooling fans scattered about, the X4450 has them located in one easy to reach area, good for when the server is at the top of the rack. Also by putting a memory basket on top of the CPU and heatsink, the memory boards are more accessible without the need of any tools.

Why is this approach considered better than competitors? "The first reason is that all the fans are in one place - no searching is necessary," writes De Gelas. "The second reason why Sun's approach is better is that if a rear fan fails on other servers, you will have to pull out the entire server to replace those fans in the back. You can imagine that this might be difficult if your server is located relatively high in a rack. Thumbs up for the Sun machine: it offers better serviceability."

Sun Fire X4450 uses two 1050 PSUs for power. This is a more efficient then the leading Intel S700FC4UR which generally uses 1570W. Sun and Dell also seem to be leading the market in virtualization. Sun incorporates four Gigibit Ethernet ports instead of the common two found in similar competitor models.

In cost comparisons, the Sun Fire X4450 had a down fall. The list price of the Sun server was the most expensive. However, by enlisting Sun's Try and Buy discount, the issue is neutralized. Additionally, when it comes to total cost of operation (TCO), the Sun Fire X4450 more than pays for itself in utility bills.

For a quick glance of comparative server features between the Sun Fire X4450, Dell PowerEdge R950, HP Proliant DL580 G5 and IBM X3850M2, take a look at AnandTech's comparison chart. [...read more...]

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