By now you’ve hopefully read the release announcement as well as my full review of the new HP MediaSmart Server EX490 and EX495. Once I finished the review, I almost immediately started taking apart my EX495, purely in the best interest of all you readers, of course.
The 3rd generation MediaSmart Server utilizes the same chassis as the previous models, with the “aqua” LEDs and updated drive trays of the EX48x servers. I’ll be showing you the hardware from the EX495, however HP has told me that the motherboard and BIOS are the same in the EX490 though it does use a different heatsink to match with the single-core Celeron processor. I’ll start by showing you how to take apart the MediaSmart Server, then take a closer look at the hardware itself, and finally show you the results of my power consumption testing.
Note: Please be aware that even opening the case of your MediaSmart Server will void your warranty.
Disassembling the MediaSmart Server
The first step to taking apart your MediaSmart Server is to unlock the system drive tray and remove all the hard drives from the server. Be sure to mark the system drive as it is required to be in the bottom drive slot. A coin is useful for helping to turn the lock, and you can also lift up slightly on the drive tray if the lock doesn’t want to turn easily.
The hard drive that ships with the EX495 is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 with 1.5TB capacity. The EX490 has a 1.0TB drive, and I suspect it is the same Seagate Barracude 7200.11.
After you’ve got the drives out, take a #0 jewelers screwdriver and remove the two tiny screws on the right side of the lower shield. These screws are tiny, be sure not to lose them. You can then pull out the right side of the lower shield and then pull it loose from it’s tab connectors on the left side. Now disconnect the electrical connector and set the lower shield aside in a safe place.
Next we need to remove the top cover. There’s a small plastic clip located inside the drive bay area, press up on the plastic clip while putting pressure on the rear of the top, pulling it towards the front of the server. It should slip free relatively easily and can then be lifted off the top.
With the top cover removed, you’ll next turn the blue plastic clips that retain the backplane, and remove the LED board cable and two fan connectors. Tuck them to the side out of the way so you can remove the backplane.
Removing the backplane is one of the more tricky parts of disassembling the MediaSmart Server. I’ve heard of people knocking the capacitors off, so be very careful during the step. I’ve found that the best way to remove the backplane is to reach inside the drive bay area, place your fingers underneath one of the air gaps in the backplane board, and lift gently while putting a small amount of opposing pressing against the top of the board to keep it from popping free too aggressively. Note that the board is retained by metal tabs, you’ll need to maneuver it free after you’ve popped it free from the motherboard.
Return to the front of the server, and remove the two screws that hold the motherboard tray in place. There is one screw on either side of the tray, and once they are removed you can simply slide the tray out of the front of the server.
Congratulations, you’ve now got the server apart and have full access to the motherboard, CPU, and RAM! Now let’s take a look at what’s new from the previous generation servers.
Hardware Components
The motherboard is the same size and general layout as previous versions. The debug header still exists near the Southbridge (large Intel chip without a heatsink), so those of you that have purchased one of cakalapati’s keyboard/video/mouse cables will have direct access to the system if you need it.
The processor in the EX495 is an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200, and runs at 2.5 GHz at full speed with the ability to throttle down to 1.2 GHz when idle by decreasing the multiplier from 12.5x to 6.0x. This CPU is manufactured using a 45nm process and is rated at 65W TDP.
The motherboard uses the same Intel G33 Express Chipset that was used in the EX485x series servers. An important addition is the new Silicon Image SiL3531 chipset that provides support for Port Multipliers over the eSATA port and will allow you to connect an enclosure that holds up to 5 drives for further storage expansion.
The memory in the EX49x servers is 2GB of DDR2 PC2-6400 manufactured by Kingston.
I removed both of the heatsinks, and found the usual thermal interface material on the Northbridge the CPU looked better and wasn’t overloaded with thermal compound as it had been on my EX487. If you’ve the server this far apart, you might as well take the opportunity to clean off those heatsinks and apply some of your favorite thermal compound such as Arctic Silver. I also noticed that the heatsink uses the same spacing for it’s mounting posts as previous models, meaning this is a non-standard design and will not be easy to replace. I’ll be very interested to see how the heatsink on the EX490 differs, if at all, as HP has indicated.
The power supply is new for the 3rd generation MediaSmart Server, it is much quieter and really contributes to the near silent running of the server. The power supply is a 200 watt model manufactured by Delta and uses the same non-standard wiring as we have documented in the Wiki. It is attached to the motherboard tray by 3 screws on the rear.
Power Consumption
Prior to disassembling my EX495, I plugged it in to my P3 Kill-A-Watt to measure the watts consumed with various numbers of drives installed. I also measured the server in these configurations both while idle and under heavy load from the stress test of the Prime95 utility. I used the stock 1.5TB Seagate, two 1.0TB Seagates, and a 750GB Seagate drive. All drives were added to the server and the system time to stabilize before I recorded a measurement. No “Green” drives were used in these tests.
| Number of Drives | Idle | High Load |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Drive | 38W | 66W |
| 2 Drives | 49W | 76W |
| 3 Drives | 58W | 87W |
| 4 Drives | 68W | 97W |
Remember that these stats are for the EX495 and that the EX490 will be a little bit less with it’s lower power Celeron processor. You can visit my review for the Power Consumption specs provided by HP.
This wraps up our look at the new HP MediaSmart Server EX490 and EX495 hardware. In my next article I’ll be showing you the BIOS of the EX495. If you have any questions or would like to see anything else covered, please let me know.
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Article by Alex Kuretz
I'm Alex Kuretz, and I'm the founder of MediaSmartServer.net. I was the Lead Test and Integration Engineer at HP for the MediaSmart Server until April 2008 when I moved on to other opportunities outside HP. I've kept active in the Windows Home Server community, creating several add-ins and helping users make the most of their Home Servers.
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
Another great in-depth examination of the new MSS. Thanks Alex.
I’d be curious to hear and see more about:
- the new heat sink on the EX495 and how it differs from the ones found on prior models; and
- operating tempatures experienced with the EX495 given the dual core processor and changed configuration of the power supply fan and the mention of new fan control/cooling system in your review. (It would be interesting to see how those compare to the EX485 with the stock processor and with those temps experienced by users who upgraded their EX485 to the E5200 processor.)
Thanks
Thanks for the interior/dissection shots! Much Appreciated!
Thanks for dissecting this so quickly. Just a couple of questions.
1. Is the new power supply interchangeable with all prior models of the EX4XX line?
2. Is there an HP part number for the power supply for end users to order?
3. This may be pure speculation, would the new power supply teamed with the older hardware be quieter than the old PS?
@Texas-Hansen – The heatsink is actually not very different from previous models. The posts are the same placement as previous ones, meaning it’s a custom design and not easily replaceable. I’ve updated the review above to reflect this additional detail. I did notice the fins are a little thicker and there are fewer of them, but I’m having a hard time imagining how the EX490 heatsink can be very different considering the EX495 heatsink looks so similar to the EX48x heatsink.
I can share the idle and loaded temperatures, I’ll gather that tonight hopefully. I doubt the power supply fan at the rear has any significant effect on heat removal, but it probably is a bit more efficient. I also think we may be reading too much into “new fan control/cooling system” – I suspect this is marketing speak for the CPU throttling and default fan speeds that are likely defined in the BIOS for the two different models of server. The chassis is the same, the case fans are the same, the only difference I can think of would be fan speed, thermal, and CPU speed profiles.
@Action -
1. As I mention in the review the connector is the same, and the motherboard tray is likely the same or very similar since the chassis is the same. I’ve not tested but I suspect it would work with at worst only minor modifications required.
2. I only saw the Delta part number, not an HP part number. HP has also not made spare parts available for the MediaSmart Server, especially not for internal components that are not considered to be user serviceable.
3. I believe it most definitely would be quieter, as from my experience the old power supply was the most noisy component of the previous generation servers.
I hope this helps.
Alex, can you please find out the size of the internal flash.
The internal flash does not exist anymore, the Server Recovery process is now performed by directly connecting the PC to the Server via network cable and the server has a PXE boot mechanism to retrieve the recovery image. I’ve not tried this yet, but imagine it would reduce the frequency of Server Recovery “Cannot find server” issues.
I *just* bought a 480 this week to replace an ailing 475 – was on sale for $415 CAD. Still moving the drives over… Wish I had known about the 495!
Question: will the 480 throttle down the processor if I swap for an Intel E5200? Or is this specific to the 495?
Hi Chris, I’d recommend you check out this forum topic that is all about upgrading the CPU in the EX48x servers before you buy a processor to do an upgrade.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the in-depth review – it is great that you can make comparisons between the EX48x series and the EX49x.
The most exciting feature (for me) is definitely the new PSU – I have been contemplating a PSU fan swap due to the noise levels, but HP seems to have given us an easy swap option (hopefully).
Looking at your pictures, the model number of the new PSU is:
Delta GPS-200AB C
As a side note, I noticed that the Acer Easystore H340 uses:
Delta GPS-200AB B
If you get a chance, would you please check to see if the new PSU would fit perfectly into the EX48x series? If that can be confirmed, I’m sure a lot of people would be interested in swapping them out.
Brilliant overview. I really appreciate the articles you have written on this server. Two questions around drives:
1. I have 2 x 1TB drives from an existing server. Where would I get the drive rails from? Are they HP proprietary? Are they available as spares? (oops!- that’s 3 questions already)
2. Is there any hardware RAID in the BIOS or do I have to use the “duplication” function? With all my photos entrusted to this device, I believe in safety first. I currently use a PCI SATA RAID controller but it appears there are no slots in this device. Other suggestions welcome.
Thanks again.
@Pat, I need to take apart the EX495 again so I’ll take a closer look at the fitment of the new power supply into the previous generation servers.
@Mike – Thanks for your feedback!
The server comes with 4 so you won’t need any more unless you lose or damage one.
1. The drive trays are proprietary from HP and we’ve not found a source of them.
2. If you’re not interesting in the Duplication feature, I have to question why you are interested in Windows Home Server and the MediaSmart Server? It can be argued that Duplication is “more safe” than RAID, in that your drives are NTFS formatted so you can always remove the data even if the motherboard dies. If your hardware RAID controller dies you have often lost your data.
My “other suggestion” is to learn more about Drive Extender (the duplication technology) and see if your confidence increases to where WHS is the right solution for you. The forums here have a ton of info.
@Alex,
Thank you very much – that would be great – I don’t really know how difficult it would be to obtain the newer PSU, but I guess the first thing would be to see if they are interchangeable.
Thanks for the prompt response. Great news about the trays coming with the empty bays. Problem solved. As for RAID vs Duplication, you are probably right. Duplication has the additional benefit over RAID in that I can select what gets duplicated so the MP3’s of my CD collection won’t be duplicated but Photos will. As soon as the new server is available here in Australia, I am off to buy one.
Great, thorough review from a professional. I love my 1st generation HP MSS, thinking about getting a new one. Keep the info coming. Good job, Alex!
Thanks for the great initial review and in-depth follow-up. As a 485 owner, I would be curious to know if there is any confirmation on the EX49x series being confirmed as capable of an upgrade of the RAM beyond 2GB, and if there is any confirmed news on the status of the viability of an upgrade to WHS v2 when it ships?
Thanks again!
-R
No one has upgraded the memory in the EX49x server yet to my knowledge, however previous versions of the MediaSmart Server all accepted 4GB sticks of RAM so I don’t anticipate any issues.
Considering there’s been no real news released about WHS v2, no there’s no status update on viability of an upgrade.
Personally, I don’t expect any OEMs to officially support upgrade paths from WHS v1 to subsequent releases.
Dear Mr. Kuretz,
I have just two question (dumb questions since from what I have read in the previous posts I have already the answer):
1st: When upgrading can I put HD of different capacities? I know that in RAID systems, the drives have to have the same size (excluding the JBOD or Drobo type NAS).
2nd: Is it possible to replace the HD that comes with it and reinstall all the software?
The questions are more or less answered but I would be thankful for a black on white answer.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Alex Barulho
Hi Alex, the answers are yes and yes.
You can add any size SATA drives to the Server. You can also replace the existing system drive that resides in bay 1 with a different drive, and reload the OS with the included Server Recovery DVD.
Dear Alex,
Thank you for the fast answer!!!
I made up my mind and will buy one!!! It seems a very interesting product.
Best regards,
Alex Barulho
Lisbon, Portugal
Dear Alex,
Thanks for all the info your provide us.
On upgrading the memory on the EX495, I want to make sure it takes a regular DDR2 DIMM and not a FB-DIMM (server memory). Can you verify that?
Thanks for your comment. All the MediaSmart Servers use standard DDR2 DIMMs.
Will it use FB-DIMMS? I have a 4GB stick that doesn’t have a home.
Thanks.
A
I have no clue, sorry.
I read your review and also love the site. A couple of questions I had regarding the hardware:
1. Am I reading it right that the max memory is 4gig? If so that is kinda small for a server. Does it support ECC memory?
2. Can that mobo support a quad-core proc?
3. Will Dell be making one of these WHS products in the future?
I am an enthusiast and I am looking at getting one of these servers when I get home from Iraq in the spring.
Hi Jeff,
1. This is a home server, not a data-center workhorse.
It does not support ECC memory. The memory is also not upgradeable without voiding your warranty, as it’s meant to be a home appliance. For most uses the included 2GB will be plenty.
2. Perhaps, though heat will be your enemy. People have successfully upgraded to a much faster dual-core, see this thread for more on that.
3. I do not know.
Definitely stop by the forums upon your return and let us know what you get!
Hi,
With regards to using an SSD as primary drive, I have not succeeded with an Intel X25-M 160GB, as the server is not found during the setup-process. This might have something to do tirh the BIOS-setup, where I have to choose “IDE” instead of AHCI.
You mention in this article that you will get back to the BIOS of the EX495, but I have not found any? Is there some possibility to get the sequence needed for changing this without the need of a screen? (Which keystrokes are needed after “DEL”/F1?
Rgds,
Thanks for the kill-a-watt stats but I haven’t seen anyone post what they’re seeing when the EX490 is in sleep. HP reports 1W. I’d like to see that stat confirmed.
> In my next article I’ll be showing you the BIOS of the EX495
When is this happending?
What specific items are you looking for? There’s hasn’t been much request for this so it’s been low priority.
Hello Alex
I´ll thank´s too of knowing the Bios version, cause I want to know if I can upgrade the processor of my ex495 to a quadcore. I want it cause I use it for media streamming to my new ps3, and sometimes, when I stream a 10gb mkv, via ps3 media streamming, it`s frozen a little bit. Can you help me about it? need I a quadcore? or a gigabit network? I use it all via ethernet
Thank you and excuse me for my bad English
I forget it. Wich is the motherboard? is it compatible for a quadcore processor?
thank you again
There’s a lot of discussion here in the forums about upgrading the processor in the EX49x servers, you can find the answer to your questions there.
Alex,
First off thanks for a nice WHS, I have spent the last few days pursuing your site and have enjoyed it.
Question: Did you do any further investigation of the interchangeability of power supply for the EX49x to a EX38x unit? I’m mainly looking to reduce the noise and based on your info I believe this might do it. Thanks
I have the dreaded EX470 power supply failure. I called HP to get support and essentially there is no more support. They no longer have the Out of Warranty support. I even asked to purchase a new PS from the EX495 since it also seems to have the non-standard ATX plug. Again, the answer was NO.
My EX470 is less than 2 years old, pretty poor customer support. Everyone buying these new boxes should consider this as you will probably be in the same situation when this one is end of life. Lots of non-standard, no parts.
I just purchased a EX490 and out of the box it seems like it’s running like mad. There is no slow down of the CPU it’s always running at a high percent. I would exspect this when you are backing up or something but when it’s just sitting there? Any idea’s ?
Robert, I’d start here.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/03/04/how-to-fix-twonky-issues-in-3-0-patch-2/
Next do a search and you’ll find some discussions in the forums on how to troubleshoot. Basically you need to figure out what’s consuming the high CPU.
Alex, I would understand if I actually started using the server like music,backups ect.. I loaded the software on my pc and tuened the server on and it did a update and the cpu has been going 90-100% ever since. maybe thats normal for this processor? maybe it need more memmory? but this sits next to me and its quite noisy because its running fast all the time. I see problems in the future like cpu crashing if it runs all the time like this. It reminds me of the sound a pc makes when its defragging a drive? but serious I havnt even done a backup or anything? Can there be something wrong with this machine?
I doubt there’s anything wrong with the server, but you’re just guessing until you figure out what is causing the high CPU load. My link gives a starting point, and as I recommended previously, searching in the forums will give you lots more suggestions and fixes. I’d start in the EX490/EX495 forums, and you can get excellent troubleshooting assistance from the community there.
Alex, I uninstalled Mediasmart and the cpu is now running at 2% do I nned that software or is there a diffrent version out there?
You haven’t told us what your needs are, so I have no way of knowing if you need it. The MediaSmart software is what differentiates your MediaSmart Server from generic Windows Home Server. It provides the Media Collector, Video Converter, Twonky media streaming, Remote Media Streaming, Photo Publisher and Viewer, and related Server Console tabs.
The only way to get the software back on is by performing a Server Recovery.
Alex, I restored the server back to default but I didnt install the patch that pops up and wants to install and everything is running fine. So it must be something with that patch so I turned autoupdates off. Thank you for all you help I’m new at this home server stuff. TY Robert
@BG – I have tested sleep mode and as HP states it is 1 watt on the Kill-A-Watt.
Hey Alex, love your guide.
Thanks to it, I was able to able to swap my EX490 Celeron with a powerful, E8400 processor. I just hope that the heatsink could dissipate the heat since it has the same TDW rating of the E5200 which use the same heatsink.
I want to swap the OS 1TB Seagate 7200.12 with a 2TB Western Digital (EADs for OS drive), what approach to do so in your opinion? Should I clone using a clone software such as Acronis or Norton Ghost?
*P.S I actually receive my EX490 today and I didn’t even turn it on. Instead, I load your guide, and start to take it apart, then pops the E8400 in, put everything together, hit the switch and pray. Voila it works!
@Checkmate – Awesome, glad the guide helped and thanks for the feedback. Since your server is brand new, if you’ve not moved your data yet I would simply do a Factory Reset onto the new drive, this will erase the entire system and reload the OS. If you want to clone the drive this guide will help you. Let us know how it turns out.
Glad I stumbled upone this writeup, i’ve upgraded the memory of my ex495 and awaiting to upgrade the CPU soon, any recommendations ?
Harry – There’s some great discussion in the forums on CPU upgrades, there is a wide range of compatible processors.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5512
Everything is up and works perfectly.
As you suggest, I just swap my 1TB Seagate HDD with the 2TB WD EADS HDD. Turn on my laptop, connect the network cable directly into the EX490, and turn it on. The EX490 automatically boot into recovery mode.
All I need to do is to pop the CD in, clicking next 2 times, and wait for 30 minutes.
The newly upgrade E8400 run at 50c at idle (my room temperature is 23) and 53c when I put it on the server shelve. So I expect the temperature to jump to 60-65 on medium load, which is a bit high, but it is still at acceptable range.
The EX490 with E8400 run brutally fast! Beat my Acer H340 to death, login to control panel takes 3s whether my Acer H340 taking 38s. Although my Acer is currently managing 9TB out of 12TB of capacity. Both runs deadly quiet. The HDD temperature (same WD Green) on EX490 range from 38 to 44, while on the Acer H340, it’s from 44 to 49. Both are measured in reasonable low activity.
Now I’ve installed a total of 8TB into my EX490, I’ll transfer data from my Acer H340. I have a special application for my EX490. Thanks you Alex, for your precious advice. Without them, it should have cost me hours of googling.
Hi Checkmate, thanks a lot for your comments and sharing your experience. It’s rewarding stories like this that help keep me motivated.
Definitely post up again here or in the forums and let us know how you get on with your new server.
Alex
Alex,
As we all know that HP EX48x does not support eSata Port Multiplier. Has anyone looked at hardware/software hacks/mods in order to add port multiplication? or is it even possible? The best solution I have seen so far is to use USB. Do you have any comments?.
thanks.
francis, to my knowledge there is no known way to get port multiplier support working with the EX48x. The physical hardware doesn’t support it and there’s no expansion slots to add a card.
Just ordered a EX490 and need to buy drives. Can this server benefit from faster 6Gb/s drives or will performance be the same if I use a 3Gb/s drive?
DZ, the server utilizes SATA2 drives, which is up to 3Gb/s for that interface.
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