Hi everyone,
I own an EX485 with 2GB of RAM, loads of disk space, and the wimpy stock Celeron 440 that moves like a snail since upgrading to MediaSmart 3.0 software. My ultimate goal is basically to push the MediaSmart box to (and in some cases past) its maximum capability in terms of features and functionality. I have already purchased WHS 2011 and wish to upgrade the server manually, so I am going to order a KVM cable for it. But before that, I highly doubt that if the WHS v1 (watered down Server 2003) can barely run on the Celeron, I HIGHLY doubt WHS 2011 will be able to run on it smoothly.

I've read various forums (including other posts on here) that mention various CPUs, stepping information, speeds, and so forth and quite honestly it's all very confusing to me. Yes, I know everything about what they are saying. However, from a compatibility standpoint, some posts tend to contradict each other on what will work, might work, and absolutely will not work.

Would anyone be able to clarify this? The most common post I see is that a PDC E5200 is the most ideal choice to upgrade. However, if I can safely go with a higher speed/model, I will. By 'safe', I am referring to total power consumption and TDP wattage that are within range of the EX485's handling. In other words, processors that would not overdraw current from the PSU, nor overheat and die.

Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated. If there is anything else I should do, please advise.

Thanks,
-Corey

Unfortunately the EX485 is a strange beast. I believe there is only one kind of E5200 will run correctly on it(SLAY7). Other processors will work but will cause additional bios changes and the machine will not shut down correctly(or at all). You can widen the processors that will work by flashing a modified EX495 bios to the EX485. That bios can be found on the forum. Nothing is easy for the EX485.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

Welcome aboard Corey! erail is exactly right on this, and he helped answer my questions when I got an EX487 a couple months back. An EX487 is the "big brother" to the 485 but, for all intents and purposes, they are identical servers. I bought mine used from a coworker of mine, and it came with the stock Celeron and 2 GB, and zero HDDs.

Your can load WHS 2011 using the Celeron, if you wanted to do that while waiting for the new CPU and memory to arrive. Yes, if you want to push this box to its limits, upgrade the CPU and the memory. Getting the debug cable is also an excellent idea. I have one hooked to my EX490 now, and will be getting another the 487...that way they can be permanent fixtures rather than something I shuttle between the two.

Memory prices for DDR2 memory (what the 485/487 use) are quite a bit higher than DDR3 for comparable GB. I found this out a couple months back when I upgraded. Supply and demand, basically. DDR3 is in greater demand now, and the supply is more plentiful. DDR2 is old hat, and isn't made as much as DDR3. I paid about $40 for 4 GB DDR2 PC2-6400 stick of Patriot Memory on Newegg, and that was the sale price.

For me, I went with an E5300 for the processor. It's a good dual core processor, but it'll run meatier processors as well, including some quads. Poke around the forums here and see what other folks are running. You'll probably need to do some tweaking of fan speeds--erail pointed me to SpeedFan--to ensure best cooling.

Here's a guide I wrote that speaks to using the hacked 495 BIOS -- this is essential for using different processors as erail noted. My guide covers doing the BIOS upgrade "blind" (without a debug cable). It should work equally as well with the debug cable, and using the cable is the recommended, safer approach. viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11315

Some quick links to help you out:

The 495 BIOS hack: viewtopic.php?f=17&t=10342
Ordering a debug cable: viewtopic.php?t=8066
Post with AMIBCP download: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11325

I posted the AMIBCP download for v3.37; it's about 2/3 of the way down on the first page of posts. I put it there because I had to really search around for that version of the tool because Google searches for that version kept turning up a site called New Rebels Haven which no longer makes it available.

Again, with respect to processors, poke around here and see what others are running. If you'll notice erail's signature, he's got an E5700 in his box, which is a bit better than my E5300. I think my E5300s do great.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

I would like to point out that no matter which e5200 cpu you buy, even the coveted SLAY7 as I did will require modification to your bios for it to work 100%. It is true that the SLAY7 e5200 requires no bios modification for it to work, but what is left out of the conversation is that without bios modification, the SLAY7 will not have speed step enabled and the process will never run at 100%. It's been years since I did my SLAY7 e5200 upgrade so I can't remember the specifics, but I want to say it was locked at 1.9ghz without any bios modification. Once I flashed changes to the bios, speed step worked and there was a noticeable difference in speed as I was gaining the .6ghz of lost speed.

I suggest you buy any e5200 you want if that's the processor you are set on and plan on flashing the bios. Just don't assume buying the SLAY7 e5200 give you all 2.5ghz of speed without bios modification.

Sorry for the late reply, the last time I typed a really lengthy and detailed reply but accidentally clicked back (bumped the TouchPad) and lost it, and I didn't feel like retyping it. So, let me update everyone with my current HPMS status:

A) received e5200 in the mail; Like others said, I can go higher, but when you mention 'adjust fan speeds' that translated to me as 'more heat'. While this may be true, I'd like to keep it as cool as possible. So essentially transforming it into in EX495 by using the same CPU, if it brings any form of significant performance increase, is perfectly fine with me. I won't be RDPing into it much, mostly via IIS-hosted web services (default WHS website, as well as 3rd party email, web, and file services) in order to keep all of my content together in one place. Plan to install it this weekend.

B) Flashed BIOS with modified EX49x image following msawyer91's tutorial. Worked like a charm. However, I am performing a clean install of WHS 2011, and for some reason it won't boot up. (boots to WHSv1 drive just fine). Prior to modding the BIOS via instructed method, I was able to install a nice, shiny 2TB blank disk into the system drive port (bottom-most slot), insert a WHS2011-bootable flash drive into the bottom-most USB port in the back, turn it on, and it would self-install WHS2011 without any prompts or settings to configure (Windows PE ^_^). This worked perfectly the first time around (when I was testing it with the celeron waiting for my PDC to ship). In fact, I was so impressed because the Celeron ran faster with WHS 2011 than it did with v1. (despite using 1.4/2GB RAM, which is definitely cutting it close) Nonetheless, I need a new CPU for multimedia reasons such as web encoding, but does anyone have any idea why the server won't boot up through a USB flash drive anymore? The only thing I did was update the BIOS... and re-blank that same 2TB drive to start over (somehow I managed to permanently kill the Dashboard within an hour). I would hope that the setting was still defaulted to where if no system boot drive was present, to look for removable media... this is very puzzling It actually acts like its booting from it...the light blinks and everything, but I don't hear the hard drive clicking (the noise when you hear data activity, not the 'I am dying' click noise)

C) I'm half tempted to go on a soldering spree and just wire up my own VGA port to the case. Just need to find the pinouts. It would be easier to just to buy the board from VOV, but being the electronic hobbyist I am, I find it more fun to make things myself
Will research this later on obtaining the CN9 connector and finding the pinouts. For the time being, its RDP only for all server work. Ill decide what to do with this later on if crucially needed.

D) Mutilated my test install of WHS2011. As mentioned above, the Dashboard died, and various random things stopped working on it. Instead of retracing my steps, I will simply reinstall it with less eagerness and go 1 by 1 installing my necessary software (MDaemon, WebAdmin, VPN and proxy services, etc.) as to identify any problems as soon as they occur, and not after the fact.

Thanks again to everyone's posts--very helpful. If anyone could advise on the USB boot problem, please let me know. This is probably the biggest sticking point right now.

Thanks!

PS. My e5200 is an SLB9T, just thought I would mention it.

Don't bother trying to figure it out. It doesn't matter. Temporarily unplug all the drives in your desktop machine, plug in your system drive and install WHS onto it. Skip applying updates and don't activate it, but let it do the three our four reboots until it boots all the way to the logon screen. Then you can pull the drive from your desktop, install it into your media smart and continue on. I've done it to an EX490 and a DataVault 310 and it works flawlessly. No VGA cable required

I have found that the boot sequence changes on these machines quite frequently and then the only way to solve it to do the first part of the install on another machine or have a display cable.

_________________
HP EX470, 4 GIG, 4200+ EE SFF, WHS V1, Production
HP EX485, 4 GIG, E5800, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Transfer Server, Backup Server
HP EX490, 4 GIG, Q9400S, WHS 2011, Stablebit Drive Pool, Mediaserver
HP EX485, 4 GIG, Q8200S, WHS 2011, ITUNES Server

Something in that BIOS update messed it up. No big deal though---when I do Win7 installs on systems that do not support booting by USB, I install The first part of Windows (right before it starts to customize it and make it hardware-specific) rip out the HDD and the flash drive, and proceed to take it to the host PC where it finishes the install from the hard drive. I ended up doing just that for the server, and it worked great.

I have successfully gotten everything to work just how I want it, although strangely it seems slower then when it had the Celeron installed. Probably coincidence, but do you think it is from the high RAM usage? anywhere between 1.4-1.9/2GB of RAM. That is the only thing I can think of.
I do have access to single 4GB DDR2 chips so it is probably in my best interest to upgrade it.

Thoughts?

oh, and a side note: are there any WHS 2011 addins that basically work like Dropbox (online file storage/sync) but instead of throwing my data on their servers, its stored on mine? Just wondering.

Thanks again for the help everyone!