It has only 2 sata ports tho, so if one wanted to use external sata, it would eat up one.

have dreams of using a raptor and a normal sata drive with that system. guess I wont be using external sata ;P

Anyone know if 1XX opterons can be tricked to work in SMP mode?

There's no PCI-E slots because PCI-E on the A64 platform doesnt exist right now. You'll see it introduced sometime in mid July and boards with it should see retail around August/September.

I would rather have a 100% external power brick myself, one less item internally to produce heat, plus much easier to replace if/when it wears out. External P/S = More interior space + Less heat.

Also, the one time I see a 90 degree SATA cable used, it just looks like they should have used a standard SATA cable.

Actually, the external storage is welcome, because they are marketing this as having RAID capabilities. The website adverts that as a feature, and I imagine it needs another enclosure to fit more than 1 drive in comfortably...

It is a prototype. It's possible they've got a better case design in development and when they finally ship it there won't be stuff hanging out the back.

I agree, external power warts are the way to go.

As far as external storage goes, the right thing to do would be to go with PCI-Express: there's a standard for external connectors. Then they could sell a storage box with a PCI-E connector on the outside and four or more SATA (or even PATA) connectors and some drive cages on the inside.

Hearing that the power supply protrudes from the back sounds like a little disappointment. You'd think they'd just extend the frame and case to be as deep as they need to do it right.

Then, it says that they'll even have an external power pack. Jesus, you'd think they'd just do it right, make the thing another 2, 3, 4 or however many inches deeper, taller or whatever to do the damn thing right.

I must have watched too many Amiercan Chopper episodes. I think I'd want to play Paul Sr. and knock some engineers or bean counters heads... whoever is responsible for doing what sounds to be a half-assed kludge... well, ok, not half-assed, just not going all the way with what could be a 10 out of 10 product.

Other than that... wow.

I'd be curious about how much time each heat sink takes to assemble--looks like a 20 minute, 10 step job if not more for just the assembly alone, ouch. I'd guess that they've farmed that out though.

That thing is just damned impressive. Add an external storage system, and you really have to applaud Iwill for taking the SFF system to a new level.

I actually want them to release a slightly larger model that supports ram on each CPU - that would be something! If they don't, I'll be torn between this and a Thunder K8W.

If that red is shiny enough (like a car) and not plasticy then that will be nice.

Hmmm, nForce 250 Pro also supports PCI Express, or I thought it did judging from an IWill dual Opteron motherboard picture I saw (that uses nForce 250 Pro) that has PCIe x16 and x4 slots on board.

Their website shows it in white, so I'm guessing there'll be a choice.

Fourth comment about the color. Maybe if we keep this going, they'll listen.

Actually, I wonder if it only has that color when it is on; when you turn if off, it cools down to a dull grey/black? :)

So the nForce3 250 can support dual Opterons? Isn't that by itself interesting news? (It makes sense, since all the hard work is handled by the Hypertransport links in the chips themselves, but still, this is the first time I've seen it demonstrated on an nForce platform)

External SATA is a welcome harbringer as well, particularly for HT applications (separate RAID box for video storage).

Wonder if Watchguard will sue them. They have the "red box" already cornered.

Seriously, reconsider the color Iwill.

Mmmmm. Looks like its Christmas in more ways than one :D