I've been a pretty happy camper with my EX470 I bought years ago. Long ago I upgraded to 2GB of ram and was one of the first to go dual core on that platform - my thread is sticky surprisingly.

Impulsively I ordered a EX490 where I plan on going 4GB and Quad core. The reason why is that I need more horsepower and a quieter footprint. The dual core X2 I have been running has been great but stability has been an issue with it shutting off randomly once or twice a month. The whine from the fan has also been annoying as well.

The 490/495s from what I've read here have been great, quiet, upgradable, stable. My biggest question is wether to vail or not from the beginning. I've always run the beta power packs but want to get some feedback. While the ex49X installations seem pretty cool and updated vail might be the way to go.

Please sound off.
MH

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EX470, X2 3800+ EE SFF, 2GB, 1x500GB Seagate, 1x1.5TB Seagate, 2x1.5TB Samsung F2

I have run both Vail and Aurora on my EX490 with a E5400 CPU without problems. Remember, the drive lights won't work.

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HP Microserver N40L with 4GB ram, 8TB storage WHS with Active Directory, WDS, Subsonic, Wordpress, MediaCenterMaster + HP Microserver N40L, 8GB ram, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials added to the WHS domain.
Microsoft MVP - Windows Home Server.

If you plan on running the EX490 in parallel with your EX470 until Vail is released and proven to be stable, then by all means put the beta O/S on the new machine. However, I would not entrust my primary backup solution to an unreleased operating system - I value my data more than that. In my case, I am also dependent on support from HP for Time Machine. My personal inclination is to wait for the first maintenance release before committing to Vail.

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Synology DS411: 2 * WD20EARX and 2 * WD20EARS
DIY Small Business Server 2011
MP 8-core 2.26GHz, 2012 MBA13 i7/8GB/256GB, AppleTVs, iPhone

I bit the bullet and got one of the 399$ deals @ NewEgg for a 490. I also managed to snag a Q8400S for 190$ shipped and a Mushkin 4GB dimm for 130$ shipped.

I did some review checking and the Q8400S will be effectively 3-4x faster than the X2 3800 I've been running in the 470. I'm sure it'll cut my x264 encoding jobs more than in half.

I'm to clean up and part out my 470 on ebay!

MH

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EX470, X2 3800+ EE SFF, 2GB, 1x500GB Seagate, 1x1.5TB Seagate, 2x1.5TB Samsung F2

I broke a cap off my main board when I upgraded my memory and really need a replacement 470 main board... the upgraded processor would be a bonus. How much do you want for it? PM me!